
Class J^l_S.(h^ 



CALIFORNIA 
HISTORICAL COLLECTION 



Reminiscences and Memoirs 

of 

« 

GEN. VALLEJO 

GEN. BIDWELL 

GEN. FREMONT 



and Other Earlv Pioneers of the 
Western Overland 



.C :^3 



M. 






V 




x^^ 



ADAPTED FROM A SKCTCM tr A. P. HILL. 



*A PIONKKK PALACK CAR. 



ACROSS THK PLAINS IX rUK DONNER PARTY (iS46> 

A PERSONAL NARRAllVE OF lllK OVERLAND TRIP 

TO CALIFORNL\. 




WAS a child when we started to 
Cahfornia, yet I remember the 
journey well and I have cause 
to remember it, as our little band 
of emigrants who drove out of 
Springfield, Illinois, that s[)ring morning of 1846 
have since been known in history as the " Ill- 
fated Donner party" of " Martyr Pioneers. " 
My father, James F. Reed, was the originator 
of the party, and the Donner brothers, George 
and Jacob, who lived just a little way out of 
Springfield, decided to join him. 

All the previous winter we were preparing for 
the journey — and right here let me say that 
we suffered vastly more from fear of the Indians 
before starting than we did on the plains ; at 
least this was my case. In the long winter 
evenings Grandma Keyes used totell me Indian 
stories. She had an aunt who had been taken 
prisoner by the savages in the early settlement 
of Virginia and Kentucky and had remained 
a captive in their hands five years before she 
made her escape. I was fond of these stories 
and evening after evening would go into grand- 
ma's room, sitting with my back close against 
the wall so that no warrior could slip behind 
me with a tomahawk. I would coax her to tell 
me more about her aunt, and would sit listen- 
ing to the recital of the fearful deeds of the 
savages, until it seemed to me that everything 
in the room, from the high old-fa.shioned bed- 
posts down even to the shovel and tongs in 
the chimney comer, was transformed into the 
dusky tribe in paint and feathers, all ready for 
the war dance. So when I was told that we 
were going to California and would have to 
pass through a region peopleil by Indians. \<ni 
can imagine how I felt. 

Our wagons, or the " Reed wagons," as they 
Vol. X LI I.— 53. 



were tailed, were all made to order and I can 
say without fear of contradiction that nothing 
like our family wagon ever started across the 
plains. It was what might be called a two-story 
wagon or " Pioneer palace car," attached to a 
regular immigrant train. My mother, though 
a young woman, was not strong and had been 
in delicate health for many years, yet when sor- 
rows and dangers came upon her she was the 
bravest of the brave. Grandma Keyes, who was 
seventy-five years of age, was an invalid, con- 
fined to her bed. Her sons in Springfield, 
Gersham and James W. Keyes, tried to dissuade 
her from the long and fatiguing journey, but in 
vain; she would not be parted from my mother, 
who was her only daughter. So the ( arin which 
she was to ride was planned to give comfort. 
The entrance was on the side, like that of an 
old-fashioned stagecoach, and one stepjjedinto 
a small room, as it were, in the centre of the 
wagon. At the right and left were spring seats 
with comfortable liigh backs, where one could 
sit and ride with as much ease as on the seats 
of a Concord coach. In this little room was 
l)laced a tiny sheet-iron stove, whose pipe, run- 
ning through the top of the wagon, was pre- 
vented by a circle of tin from setting fire to the 
canvas cover. A board about a foot wide ex- 
tended over the wheels on either side the full 
length of the wagon, thus forming the founda- 
tion for a large and roomy second story in 
which were placed ovir beds. I'nder the spring 
seats were compartments in whi( h were .stored 
many articles useful for the journey, such as a 
well filled work basket and a full a.s.sortment of 
medicines, with lint and bandages for dressing 
wounds. Our clothing was j)acked — not in 
Saratoga trunks — but in strong canvas bags 
plainly marked. Some of mama's young friends 



AOt 



4IO ACROSS THE PLAINS IN THE DONNER PARTY {1S46). 



added a looking-glass, hung directly opposite 
the door, in order, as they said, that my mother 
might not forget to keep her good looks, and 
strange to say, when we had to leave this 
wagon, standing like a monument on the Salt 
Lake desert, the glass was still unbroken. I 
have often thought how pleased the Indians 
must have been when they found this mirror 
which gave them back the picture of their own 
dusky faces. 



ever started across the plains with more pro- 
visions or a better outfit for the journey ; and 
yet we reached California almost destitute and 
nearly out of clothing. 

The family wagon was drawn by four yoke 
of oxen, large Durham steers at the wheel. 
The other wagons were drawn by three yoke 
each. We had saddle horses and cows, and last 
but not least my pony. He was a beauty and 
his name was Billy. I can scarcely remember 




/l^tjW^f^l''"-'^!-' 



THIRSTY OXEN STAMPEDING KOK WATER. 



We had two wagons loaded with provisions. 
Everything in that line was bought that could 
be thought of. My father started with supplies 
enough to last us through the first winter in 
CaHfornia, had we made the journey in the 
usual time of six months. Knowing that books 
were always scarce in a new country, we also 
took a good library of standard works. We 
even took a cooking stove which never had had 
a fire in it, and was destined never to have, as 
we cached it in the desert. Certainly no family 



when I was taught to sit a horse. I only 
know that when a child of seven I was the 
proud owner of a pony and used to go riding 
with papa. That \\as the chief pleasure to 
which I looked forward in crossing the plains, 
to ride my pony every day. But a day came 
when I had no pony to ride, the poor little fel- 
low gave out. He could not endure the hard- 
ships of ceaseless travel. When I was forced 
to part with him I cried until I was ill, and 
sat in the back of the wagon watching him be- 



ACROSS rfrr. plains av tiik donnkr party {1S46). 



411 




LKUiblNl, WAIKK 1 IJ ESCAPE A II \li;i l.;l 



come smaller and smaller as we drove on, until 
I could see him no more. 

Never can I forgot the morning wiicn we 
bade farewell to kindred and friends. The 
Donners were there, having driven in the even- 
ing before with their families, so that we might 
get an early start. (Irandma Keyes was car- 
ried out of the house and placed in the wagon 
on a large feather bed, j)ro]ipod up with |)il- 
lows. Her sons implored her to remain and 
end her days with them, but she could not be 
separated from her only daughter. We were 
surrounded by loved ones, and there stood all 
my little schoolmates who hail come to kiss 
me good-by. My father with tears in his eyes 
tried to smile asone friend after another grasped 
his hand in a last fiirewell. Mama was over- 
come with grief. At last. we were all in the 
wagons, the drivers cracked their whi|)s. the 
oxen moved slowly forward and the long jour- 
ney had begun. 

Could we have looked into the future and 
have seen the misery before us. these lines 
would never have been written. liul we were 
full of hope and did not dream of sorrow. 1 
can now see our little caravan of ten or twelve 
wagons as we drove out of olil Springfield, my 
little black-eyed .sister Patty sitting upon the 
bed, holding up the wagon cover so that ( irand- 
ma might have a last look at her old home. 

ihat was the 14th <lay of .\pril, 1846. Our 
party numbered thirty-one,and consisted chiefly 
of three families, the other members being 
young men, some of whom came as drivers. 



The Donner family were George and Tamsen 
Donnernnd their five children, and Jacob antl 
Klizabeth Donner and their seven children. 
Our family numbered nine, not counting three 
drivers — my father and mother. James Fra- 
/ier and Margaret W. Reed. (Irandma Kcves, 
my little sister Patty (now Mrs. Frank I.ewi.s, 
of Capitola), and two little brothers, James F. 
Reed. Jr., and Thomas K. Reed. Kli/a Wil- 
liams and her brother Baylis. and lastly myself. 
Kliza had been a domestic in our family for 
many years, and was anxious to see California. 

Many friends camped with us the first night 
out and my uncles traveled on for several days 
before bidding us a final farewell. It seemed 
strange to be riding in ox-teams, and we chil- 
ilren were afraid of the oxen, thinking they 
could go wherever they plea.sed as they had no 
l)ridles. Milt Elliott, a knight of the whip, drove 
(nir family wagon. He had worked fi)r years 
in my father's large saw-mill on the Sangamon 
River. The first bridge we came to, Milt had 
to slop the wagon and let us out. I remember 
that I calleil to him to be sure to make the 
oxen hit the bridge, and not to forget that 
grandma was in the wagon. How he laughed 
at the idea of the oxen missing the bridge ! 
I soon found that Milt, with his •' whoa." 
" haw," and *' gee," could make the oxen do 
just as he jileased. 

Nothing of much interest happened until we 
reached what is now Kansas, i'he first Indians 
we met were the Caws, who kept the ferry. an<l 
had to take us over the Caw River. I wnt( hed 




scott's bluffs (from nature, 1890). 



412 ACROSS THE PLAINS IN THE DONNER PARTY {1846). 

them closely, hard- 
ly daring to draw 
my breath, and 
feeling sure they 
would sink the 
boat in the middle 
of the stream, and 
was very thankful 
when I found they 
were not like grand- 
ma's Indians. Every 
morning, when the 
wagons were ready 
to start, papa and 
I would jump on 
our horses, and go 
ahead to pick out 
a camping-ground. 
In our party were 
many who rode 
on horseback, but 
mama seldom did ; 

she preferred the wagon, and did not like to leave 
grandma, although Patty took upon herself this 
charge, and could hardly be persuaded to leave 
grandma's side. Our little home was so com- 
fortable, that mama could sit reading and 
chatting with the little ones, and almost forget 
that she was really crossing the plains. 

Grandma Keyes improved in health and 
spirits every day until we came to the Big Blue stroy her grave, but her death here, before our 
River, which was so swollen that we could troubles began, was providential, and nowhere 
not cross, but had to lie by and make rafts on on the whole road could we have found so beau- 
which to take the wagons over. As soon as we tiful a resting place. By this time many emi- 
stopped traveling, grandma began to fail, and grants had joined our company, and all turned 
on the 29th day ofMay she died. It seemed hard out to assist at the funeral. A coffin Avas hewn 
to bury her in the wilderness, and travel on, out of a cottonwood tree, and John Denton, 
and we were afraid that the Indians would de- a young man from Springfield, found a large 

gray stone on Avhich he carved with deep let- 
ters the name of " Sarah Keyes ; born in Vir- 
ginia," giving age and date of birth. She was 
buried under the shade of an oak, the slab be- 
ing placed at the foot of the grave, on which 
were planted wild flowers growing in the sod. 
A minister in our party, the Rev. J. A. Corn- 
wall, tried to give words of comfort as we stood 
about this lonely grave. Strange to say, that 
grave has never been disturbed ; the wilderness 
blossomed into the city of Manhattan, Kan- 
sas, and we have been told that the city ceme- 
tery surrounds the grave of Sarah Keyes. 

As the river remained high and there was 
no prospect of fording it, the men went to 
work cutting down trees, hollowing out logs 
and making rafts on which to take the wagons 
over. These logs, about twenty-five feet in 
length, were united by cross timbers, forming 
rafts, which were firmly lashed to stakes driven 
into the bank. Ropes were attaclied to both 
ends, by which the rafts were pulled back and 
CHIMNEY ROCK, ON THE NORTH PLATTE (1890). forth across tlic rivcr. The banks of this stream 




ACROSS 77/ F Pr.AIXS AV TFfE DOXAKK PAR IV (1S46). 



4 '3 



being steep, our heavily laden wagons had to Travehng up the smooth valley of the Platte, 
be let down carefully with n)|)es, so that the we passed Court House Rock, Chimney Rock 
wheels might run into the hollowed logs. This and Scott's liluffs, and made from fifteen to 
was no easy task when you take into consid- twenty miles a day, shortening or lengthening 
eration that in these wagons were women and the distance in order to secure a good (amp- 
children, who could cro.ss the rapid river in ingground. At night when wedrove intocamp, 
no other way. Kinally the dangerous w(jrk was our wagons were placed so as to form a circle 
accomplished and wc resumed our journey. or corral, into which our cattle were driven. 
The road at first was rough and led through after grazing, to prevent the Indians from steal- 
a timbered country, but after striking the great ing them, the (amp-fires and tents lieing on 
valley of the Platte the road was good and the outside. There were many expert riflemen 
the country beautiful. Stretching out before us in the party and we never lacked for game, 
as far as the eye could reach was a valley as The i)lains were alive with buffalo, and herds 
green as emerald, dotted here and there with could be seen every day coming to the Platte 



>i9i?m 





^ 



i-A.. 





"^^ 



flowers of every imaginable color, and through 
this valley flowed the grand old Platte, a wide, 
rapid, shallow stream. Our company now 
numbered about forty wagons, and, t'or a time, 
we were commanded by Col. \\illiam H. Rus- 
sell, then by George Donner. Exercise in the 
open air under bright skies, And freedom from 
peril combined to make this jiari of our jour- 
ney an ideal pleasure trip. How 1 enjoyed 
riding my pony, galloping over the i)lain, gath- 
ering wild flowers! .At night the young folks 
would gather about the camp fire chatting 
merrily, and often a song would be heard, or 
some clever dancer would give us a barn-door 
jig on the hind gate of a wagon. 



to drink. The meat of the young buffalo is ex- 
( client and so is that of the antelope, but the 
antelope are so fleet of foot it is diflicult to 
get a shot at one. I witnessed many a butlalo 
hunt and more than once was in the chase 
close beside my father. A buH'alo will not at- 
tack one unless wounded. When he sees the 
hunter he raises his shaggy head, ga/es at him 
for a moment, then turns and runs; but when 
he is wounded he will face his pursuer. The 
only danger lay in a stampede, for nothing 
could withstand the onward rush of these ma.s- 
sive creatures, whose tread seemed to shake 
the prairie. 

Antelope and buflalo steaks were the main 



414 ACROSS THE PLAINS IN THE DONNER PARTY [1846). 







^7 ^^«-^ . 







OLD TRAIL CROSSING HORSESHOE CREEK, A TRIBUTARY OF THE PLATTE. 



article on our bill-of-fare for weeks, and no 
tonic was needed to give zest for the food ; 
our appetites were a marvel. Eliza soon dis- 
covered that cooking over a camp fire was far 
different from cooking on a stove or range, but 
all hands assisted her. I remember that she 
had the cream all ready for the churn as we 
drove into the South Fork of the Platte, and 
while we were fording the grand old stream 
she went on with her work, and made several 
pounds of butter. We found no trouble in 
crossing the Platte, the only danger being in 
quicksand. The stream being wide, we had to 
stop the wagon now and then to give the oxen a 
few moments' rest. At Fort Laramie, two hun- 
dred miles farther on, we celebrated the fourth 
of July in fine style. Camp was pitched earlier 
than usual and we prepared a grand dinner. 
Some of my father's friends in Springfield had 
given him a bottle of good old brandy, which 
he agreed to drink at a certain hour of this day 
looking to the east, while his friends in Illi- 
nois were to drink a toast to his success from a 
companion bottle with their faces turned west, 
the difference in time being carefully estimated ; 
and at the hour agreed upon, the health of our 
friends in Springfield was drunk with great en- 
thusiasm. At Fort Laramie was a party of 
Sioux, who were on the war path going to fight 
the Crows or Blackfeet. The Sioux are fine- 
looking Indians and I was not in the least afraid 
of them. They fell in love with my pony and 
set about bargaining to buy him. They brought 
buffalo robes and beautifully tanned buckskin, 
pretty beaded moccasins, and ropes made of 
grass, and placing these articles in a heap 
alongside several of their ponies, they made 
my father understand by signs that they would 
give them all for Billy and his rider. Papa 
smiled and shook his head; then the number of 
ponies was increased and, as a last tempting 
inducement, they brought an old coat, that 
had been worn by some poor soldier, think- 
ing my father could not withstand the brass 
buttons ! 



On the sixth of July we were again on the 
march. The Sioux were several days in pass- 
ing our caravan, not on account of the length 
of our train, but because there were so many 
Sioux. Owing to the fact that our wagons 
were strung so far apart, they could have mas- 
sacred our whole party without much loss to 
themselves. Some of our company became 
alarmed, and the rifles were cleaned out and 
loaded, to let the warriors see that we were pre- 
pared to fight ; but the Sioux never showed 
any inclination to disturb us. Their curiosity 
was annoying, however, and our wagon with 
its conspicuous stove-pipe and looking-glass 
attracted their attention. They were contin- 
ually swarming about trying to get a look at 
themselves in the mirror, and their desire to 
possess my pony was so strong that at last I 
had to ride in the wagon and let one of the 
drivers take charge of Billy. This I did not 
like, and in order to see how far back the 
line of warriors extended, I picked up a large 
field-glass which hung on a rack, and as I 
pulled it out with a click, the warriors jumped 
back, wheeled their ponies and scattered. This 
pleased me greatly, and I told my mother I 
could fight the whole Sioux tribe with a sp)- 
glass, and as revenge for forcing me to ride in 
the wagon, whenever they came near trying to 
get a peep at their war-paint and feathers, I 
would raise the glass and laugh to see them 
dart away in terror. 

A new route had just been opened by Lans- 
ford W. Hastings, called the " Hastings Cut- 
off',"i which passed along the southern shore 
of the Great Salt Lake rejoining the old "Fort 
Hall Emigrant " Voad on the Humboldt. It 
was said to shorten the distance three hundred 
miles. Much time was lost in debating which 
course to pursue ; Bridger and Vasques, who 
were in charge of the fort, sounded the praises 
of the new road. My father was so eager to 
reach California that he was quick to take ad- 

1 For an account of Hastings, see The Century for 
December 1890, p. 176. — Ed. 



ACROSS THE PLAINS IX 11 !E DONNE R PARTY {1846). 415 

vantage of any means to shorten the distance, to cross towards the lake. Only those who 

and we were assured by Hastings and his party have passed through this country on horsehac k 

that the only bad i)art was the forty-mile drive can appreciate the situation. There was ab- 

through the desert by the shore of the lake, solutely no road, not even a trail. The canon 

None of our party knew then, as we learned 

afterwards, that these men had an interest in 

the road, being employed by Hastings. But 

for the advice of these i)arties we should 

have continued on the old Fort Hall road. 

Our company had increased in numbers all 

along the line, and was now composed of .some 

of tiie ver)' best j^eople and some of the worst. 

The greater portion of our comi)anv went bv 

the old road and reached California in safety. 

Eighty-seven persons took the " Hastings Cut- 



wound around among the hills. Heavy under- 
brush had to be cut away and used for making 
a road bed. While cutting our way step by 
step through the " Hastings Cut-off," we were 
overtaken and joined by the Craves family, 
consisting of \V. F. Graves, his wife and eight 
children, his son-in-law Jay Fosdick, and a 
young man by the name of John Snyder. 
Finally we reached the end of tiie canon where 
it looked as though our wagons would have 
to be abandoned. It seemed impossible for 
off," including the Uonners, Breens, Reeds, the oxen to pull them up the steep hill and the 
Murphys (not the Murphys of Santa Clara bluffs beyond, but we doubled teams and the 
County), C. T. Stanton, John Denton, Wm. work was, at last, accomplished, almost every 
McClutchen, W'm. Eddy, I>ouis Kcseburg,and yoke in the train being re(|uired to pull u]» each 
many others too numerous to mention in a short wagon. While in this canon Stanton and Pike 
article like this. And these are the unfortunates came into camp ; they had suffered greatly on 
who have since been known as the " Donner account of the exhaustion of their horses and 
Party." had come near perishing. Worn with travel and 

On the morning of July 31 we parted with greatly discour- 
our traveling companions, some of whom had aged we reached 
become ver\' dear friends, and, without a sus- 
picion of impending disaster, set off in high 
spirits on the " Hastings Cut-off" ; but a few 
days showed us that the road was not as it had 
been represented. We were seven days in 
reaching Weber Canon, and Ha.stings, who and 
was guiding a party in advance of our train, were 



the shore of the 
Great Salt Lake. 
It had taken an 
entire month, in- 
stead of a week, 
our cattle 
not fit to 



left a note by the wayside warning us that the cross the desert 
road through Weber Canon was impassable We were now 
and advising us to select a road over the moun- encamped 
tains, the outline of which he attempted to give in a val- 
on paper. These directions were so vague that ley called '^ 
C. T. Stanton, William Pike, and my father "Twenty 
rode on in advance 

and overtook Hast- - ^ 

ings and tried to in- 
duce him to return 
and guide our party. 
1 1 e refused, but came 
back over a portion 
of the road, and from 
a high mountain en- 
deavored to point 
out the general 
course. Over this 
road my father trav- 
eled alone, taking 
notes, and blazing 
trees, to assist him in 
retracing his course, 
and reaching camp 
after an absence of 
four days. Learning 
of the hardships of 

the advance train, _ 

the party decided . nati-ral bridge on la v^txjt rivek. 




4i6 ACROSS THE PLAINS IN THE DONNER PARTY {1846). 







THE EMIGRANT TRAIL THROUGH THE BAD LANDS, WYOMING. 



Wells." The water in these wells was pure 
and cold, welcome enough after the alka- 
line pools from which we had been forced to 
drink. We prepared for the long drive across 
the desert and laid in, as we supposed, an 
ample supply of water and grass. This desert 
had been represented to us as only forty miles 
wide but we found it nearer eighty. It was a 
dreary, desolate, alkali waste; not a living thing 
could be seen; it seemed as though the hand of 
death had been laid upon the country. We 
started in the evening, traveled all that night, 
and the following day and night — two nights 
and one day of suffering from thirst and heat 
by day and piercing cold by night. When the 
third night fell and we saw the barren waste 
stretching away apparently as boundless as 



when we started, my father determined to go 
ahead in search of water. Before starting he 
instructed the drivers, if the cattle showed signs 
of giving out to take them from the wagons and 
follow him. He had not been gone long before 
the oxen began to fall to the ground from thirst 
and exhaustion. They were unhitched at once 
and driven ahead. My father coming back met 
the drivers with the cattle within ten miles of 
water and instructed them to return as soon 
as the animals had satisfied their thirst. He 
reached us about daylight. \^ waited all that 
day in the desert looking for the return of our 
drivers, the other wagons going on out of 
sight. Towards night the situation became 
desperate and we had only a itw drops of water 
left ; another night there meant death. We 




^jw- 



GREAT DESERT TO THE WEST OF SALT LAKE. 



ACROSS TIfE PLAINS IX TlfE DONNER PARTY {1846). 



•M7 



must set out on foot and try to reach some of oxen before reacliing Hridger's Fort fromdrink- 

the wagons. Can I ever forget that night in the ing poisoned water found standing in j)ools,and 

desert, when we walked mile after mile in the had bought at the fort two yoke of young steers, 

darkness, every step seeming to be the very last but now all were gone, and my father and his 

we couhi take! Suddenly all fatigue was ban- family were left in the desert, eight hundred 

ished by fear : through the night came a swift miles from California, seemingly heli)less. \Vc 

rushing sound ofoneof the voung steers crazed realized that our wagons must be abandoned. 





hboiaibK HucK, IDAHO, A LANL/MAKK ui- M k.sl bKN t.MloKA 1 t<j:< 



by thirst and apparently bent upon our destruc- 
tion. My father, holding his youngest child in his 
arms and keeping us all close behind him, drew 
hispistol,buttinally the maddened beast turned 
and dashed off into the darkness. Dragging 
ourselves along about ten miles, we reached 
the wagon of Jacob Donner. The family were 
all asleep, so we children lay down on the 
ground. A bitter wind swept over the desert, 
chilling us through and through. W'e crept 
closer together, and, when we complained 
of the cold, papa ])laced all five of our dogs 
around us, and only for the warmth of these 
faithful creatures we should doubtless have 
perished. 

.\t daylight papa was off to learn the fate of 
his cattle, and was told that all were lost, ex- 
cept one cow and an ox. The stock, scenting 
the water, had rushed on ahead of the men, anil 
had jjrobably been stolen by the Indians, and 
driven into the mountains, where all traces of 
them were lost. .\ week was spent here on the 
edge of the <lesert in a fruitK?ss search. Almost 
every man in the (omjjany turned out, hunting 
in all directions, but our eighteen head of cattle 
were never found. We had lost our best yoke of 
Vol. XMI.— 54. 



The company kindly let us have two yoke of 
oxen, so with our ox and cow yoked together 
we could bring one wagf)n, but, alas! not the 
one which seemed so much like a home to us, 
and in which grandma had died. Some of the 
company went back with pa])a and assisted him 
incacheingeverything thatcoulilnot be packet 1 
in one wagon. A cache was made by digging 
a hole in the ground, in which a box or the bed 
of a wagon was placed. Articles to be buried 
were packed into this box, covered with boards, 
and the earth thrown in upon them, and thus 
they were hidden from sight. Our ])ro\isions 
weredivided among the company. Hefore leav- 
ing the desert camp, an inventory of provisions 
on haml was taken, and it was found that the 
su|)ply was not sufficient to la.st us through to 
California, and as if to render the situation 
more terrible, a storm came on during the night 
and the hill-tops became white with .snow. 
Some one must go on to Sutter's Fort after 
provisions. .\ call was made for volunteers. 
C. T. Stanton and \Vm. McClutchen bravely 
otTereil their services and started on bearing 
letters from the company to Captain Sutter 
a.sking for relief. We resumed our journey 



4i8 ACROSS THE PLAINS IN THE BONNER PARTY {1846). 



and soon reached Gravelly Ford on the Hum- 
boldt. 

I now come to that part of my narrative 
which delicacy of feeling for both the dead 
and the living would induce me to pass over 
in silence, but which a correct and lucid chron- 
icle of subsequent events of historical impor- 
tance will not suffer to be omitted. On the 5th 
day of October, 1846, at Gravelly Ford, a trag- 
edy was enacted Avhich affected the subsequent 



father a violent blow over the head with his 
heavy whip-stock. One blow followed another. 
Father was stunned for a moment and blinded 
by the blood streaming from the gashes in his 
head. Another blow was descending when my 
mother ran in between the men. Father saw 
the uplifted whip, but had only time to cr\ : 
"John, John," when down came the stroke 
upon mother. Quick as a thought my father's 
hunting knife was out and Snyder fell, fa- 




^t^J*.*^ 




*6^^^:>. 111.?... '..-^^^^ '-^ 









It 



OLD CALIFORNIA TRAIL TO THE NOKTH OF SALT LAKE. 



lives and fortunes of more than one member 
of our company. At this point in our journey 
we were compelled to double our teams in or- 
der to ascend a steep, sandy hill. Milton El- 
liott, who was driving our wagon, and John 
Snyder, who was driving one of Mr. Graves's, 
became involved in a quarrel over the man- 
agement of their oxen. Snyder was beating his 
cattle over the head with the butt end of his 
whip, when my father, returning on horse-back 
from a hunting trip, arrived and, appreciating 
the great importance of saving the remainder 
of the oxen, remonstrated with Snyder, telling 
him that they were our main dependence, and 
at the same time offering the assistance of our 
team. Snyder having taken offense at some- 
thing Elliott had said declared that his team 
could pull up alone, and kept on using abusive 
language. Father tried to quiet the enraged 
man. Hard words followed. Then my father 
said : " We can settle this, John, when we get 
up the hill." " No," replied Snyder with an 
oath, " we will settle it now," and springing 
upon the tongue of a wagon, he struck my 



tally wounded. He was caught in the arms of 
W. C. Graves, carried up the hill-side, and laid 
on the ground. My father regretted the act, and 
dashing the blood from his eyes went quickly 
to the assistance of the dying man. I can see 
him now, as he knelt over Snyder, trying to 
stanch the wound, while the blood from the 
gashes in his own head, trickling down his face, 
mingled with that of the dying man. In a few 
moments Snyder expired. Camp was pitched 
immediately, our wagon being some distance 
from the others. My father, anxious to do what 
he could for the dead, offered the boards of our 
wagon, from which to make a coffin. Then, 
coming to me, he said : " Daughter, do you 
think you can dress these wounds in my head ? 
Your mother is not able, and they must be at- 
tended to." I answered by saying : " Yes, if 
you will tell me what to do." I brought a ba- 
sin of water and sponge, and we went into the 
wagon, so that we might not be disturbed. 
When my work was at last finished, I burst out 
crying. Papa clasped me in his arms, saying : 
" I should not have asked so much of you," and 



.ICA'OSS 7V//' /V..I/.VS /.V 77//. ru.\M:K /./A/i {1^40). 



419 



talked to me until I rontrollcd my feci ings,so that 
\vc could fjo to the tent where mama was lyin^. 

We then learned that tr()ui)le was brewing 
in the camp w here Snyder's body lay. At the 
funeral my flither stood sorrowfully by until 
the last clod was placed ui)on the grave. He 
and John Snyder had been good friends, and 
no one could have regretted the taking of that 
young life more than my father. 

Tlie members of the Donner party then held 
a council to decide upon the fate of my father, 
while we anxiously awaited the verdict. They 
refused to accept the plea of self-det'ense and 
decided that my father should be banished 
from the company and sent into the wilder- 
ness alone. It was a cruel sentence. And all 
this animosity towards my father was caused 
by Louis Keseburg, a German who had joined 
our company away back on the ])lains. Kese- 
burg was mqirried to a young and pretty Ger- 
man girl, and used to abuse her, and was in 
the habit of beating her till she was black and 
blue. This aroused all the manhood in my 
father and he took Keseburg to task — telling 
him it must be stopped or measures would be 



tell. I have thought the subject over for hours 
but failed to arrive at a conclusion. The feel- 
ing against my fatlier at one lime was so strong 
that lynching was proposed. He was no cow- 
ard and he bared his neck, saying, " Come on, 
gentlemen," but no one moved. It was thought 
more humane, perhaps, to send him into the 
wilderness to die of slow starvation or be mur- 
dered by the Indians; but my father did not 
die. (iod took care of him and his family, and 
at Donner Lake we seemed e.specially favore<l 
by the Almighty as not one of our family per- 
ished, and we were the only family no one 
member of which was forced to eat of human 
llesh to keep body and soul together. When 
the sentence of banishment was communicated 
to my father, he refused to go, feeling that he 
was justified before God and man, as he had 
only acted in self-defense. 

'I'hen came a sacrifice on the j)art of my 
mother. Knowing only too well what her life 
w ould be without him, yet fearful that if he 
remained he would meet with violence at the 
hands of his enemies, she implored him to go, 
but all to no avail until she urged him to re- 




SALT LAKK, U>OKING SUl'TH KRuM PKOXIONTUKV. 



taken to that effect. Keseburg did not dare to 
strike his wife again, but he hated my father 
and nursed his wrath until j)apa was so unfor- 
tunate as to have to take the life of a fellow- 
creature in self-defense. Then Keseburg's hour 
for revenge had come, liut how a man like 
Keseburg, brutal and overbearing by nature, 
although highly educated, could have such in- 
fluence over the company is more than I can 



member the destitution of the company, say- 
ing that if he remained and escaped violence 
at their hands, he might nevertheless see his 
children starving an<l be helpless to aid them, 
while if he went on he could retuni and meet 
them with food. It was a fearful struggle; at 
last he con.sented, but not before he had se- 
cured a promise from the company to care for 
his wife and little ones. 



420 ACROSS THE PLAINS IN THE DONNER PARTY [1846). 



My father was sent out into an unknown 
country without provisions or arms — even his 
horse was at first denied him. When we learned 
of this decision, I followed him through the 
darkness, taking Elliott with me, and carried 
him his rifle, pistols, ammunition and some 
food. I had determined to stay with him, and 
begged him to let me stay, but he would Hsten 



My mother's despair was pitiful. Patty and 
I thought we would be bereft of her also. But 
life and energy were again aroused by the dan- 
ger that her children would starve. It was ap- 
parent that the whole company would soon be 
put on a short allowance of food, and the snow- 
capped mountains gave an ominous hint of the 
fate that really befell us in the Sierra. Our wagon 




A DESPERATE SITUATION. (DRAWN BV CHARLES NAHL.) 



to no argument, saying that it was impossible. 
Finally, unclasping my arms from around him, 
he placed me in charge of Elliott, who started 
back to camp with me — and papa was left alone. 
I had cried until I had hardly strength to walk, 
but when we reached camp and I saw the dis- 
tress of my mother, with the little ones cling- 
ing around her and no arm to lean upon, it 
seemed suddenly to make a woman of me. I 
realized that I must be strong and help mama 
bear her sorrows. 

We traveled on, but all life seemed to have 
left the party, and the hours dragged slowly 
along. Every day we would search for some 
sign of papa, who would leave a letter by the 
way-side in the top of a bush or in a split stick, 
and when he succeeded in killing geese or birds 
would scatter the feathers about so that we 
might know that he was not suffering for food. 
When possible, our fire would always be kindled 
on the spot where his had been. But a time 
came when we found no letter, and no trace 
of him. Had he starved by the way-side, or 
been murdered by the Indians ? 



was found to be too heavy, and was abandoned 
with everything we could spare, and the re- 
maining things were packed in part of another 
wagon. We had two horses left from the wreck, 
which could hardly drag themselves along, but 
they managed to carry my two little brothers. 
The rest of us had to walk, one going beside 
the horse to hold on my youngest brother who 
was only two and a half years of age. The 
Donners were not with us when my father was 
banished, but were several days in advance of 
our train. Walter Herron, one of our drivers, 
who was traveling with the Donners, left the 
wagons and joined my falher. 

On the 1 9th of October, while traveling along 
the Truckee, our hearts were gladdened by the 
return of Stanton, with seven mules loaded with 
provisions. Mr. McClutchen was ill and could 
not travel, but Captain Sutter had sent two of 
his Indian vaqueros, Luis and Salvador with 
Stanton. Hungry as we were, Stanton brought 
us something better than food — news that my 
father was alive. Stanton had met him not far 
from Sutter's Fort ; he had been three days with- 



,1 CROSS rrrr. pf.ains jx tue ponner party {1846). 421 



out food, and his horse was not able to carry liim. 
Stanton had given him a liorsc and some provis- 
ions and lie had gone on. We now j)a( ked what 
httle we had left on one mule and started with 
Stanton. My mother rode on a mule, carrving 
Tommy in her laj) ; Patty and Jim rode behind 
tlie two Indians, and I behind Mr. Stanton, 
and in this way we journeyed on through the 
rain, looking u]) with fear towards the moun- 
tains, where snow was already falling althougli 
it wa.s only the last week in October. Winter 
had set in a month earlier than usual. All trails 
and roads were coNered; and our only guide 
was the summit which it seemed we would 
never reach. Despair drove many nearly fran- 
tic. Each family tried to cross the mountains 
but found it impossible. When it was seen that 
the wagons could not be dragged through the 
snow, their goods and ])rovisions were ])acked 
on oxen and another start was matle, men and 



might bring yielded to the many, and we 
< amped within three miles of the summit. 

That night ( ame the dreaded snow. .Around 
the (amp-fires under the trees great feathery 
flakes came whirling down. The air was so 
lull of them that (jne could see objects only a 
few feet away. The Indians knew we were 
♦loomed, and one of them wrapped his blanket 
about him and stood all night under a tree. 
We children slejjt soundly on our cold bed of 
snow with a soft white mantle falling over us 
so thi( kly that every few moments ms mother 
w(nild have to shake the shawl — our only < ov- 
ering — to keep us from being buried alive. In 
the morning the snow lay deep on mountain 
and valley. With heavy hearts we turned back 
to a cabin that had been built by the Murphy- 
Schallenberger party two years before. We 
built mf)re cabins and prepared as best we 
could for the winter. That camp, which proved 



w^m 







.jm^:^ 



'Y 



... *' i «;■. 










■if 



TRUCKBB CAfJoV. 



women walking in the snow up to their waists, 
carrying theirchihlren in their arms andtrying to 
drive their i attle. The Indians said they could 
tind no road, so a halt was called, and Stanton 
went ahead with the guides, and came back 
and reported that we could get across if we 
kept right on, but that it would be impossible 
if snow fell. He was in favor of a forced march 
until the other side of the summit should be 
reached, but some of our party were so tired 
and exhausted with the day's labor that they 
declared they could not take another step; so 
the i^:w who kneu ilu- danger that the night 



the camjjof death to many in our company, was 
made on the shore of a lake, sine e known as 
" Donner Lake." The Donners were camped 
in .Mder Creek Valley below the lake, and were, 
if ])Ossible, in a worse condition than ourselves. 
The snow came on so suddenly that they had 
no time to buiUl cabins, but ha.stily put up brush 
she<ls, covering them with pine l)oughs. 

Three double cabins were built at Donner 
Lake, which were known as the " Hreen Cabin," 
the " Murphy Cabin." and the " Reed-Ciraves 
Cabin." The cattle were all killed, and the 
meat was placed in snow for preservation. My 



422 ACROSS THE PLAINS IN THE DONNER PARTY {1846). 



mother had no cattle to kill, but she made ar- 
rangements for some, promising to give two for 
one in California. Stanton and the Indians 
made their home in my mother's cabin. 

Many attempts were made to cross the moun- 
tains, but all who tried were driven back by the 



pies, some beans, a bit of tripe, and a small 
piece of bacon. When this hoarded store was 
brought out, the delight of the little ones knew 
no bounds. The cooking was watched care- 
fully, and when we sat down to our Christmas 
dinner mother said, " Children, eat slowly, for 










W '^ ' 






^.rSf^'J^^Wh^^' 



■i 



"( '■■ 



~'V:>^> 



DONNER LAKt, KKOM THE OLU SACRAMENIU TKAIL. 



pitiless storms. Finally a party was organized, 
since known as the " Forlorn Hope." They 
made snow-shoes, and fifteen started, ten men 
and five women, but only seven lived to reach 
Cahfornia; eight men perished. They were 
over a month on the way, and the horrors en- 
dured by that Forlorn Hope no pen can de- 
scribe nor imagination conceive. The noble 
Stanton was one of the party, and perished the 
sixth day out, thus sacrificing his life for stran- 
gers. I can find no words in which to express 
a fitting tribute to the memory of Stanton. 

The misery endured during those four 
months at Donner Lake in our little dark cab- 
ins under the snow would fill pages and make 
the coldest heart ache. Christmas was near, 
but to the starving its memory gave no com- 
fort. It came and passed without observance, 
but my mother had determined weeks before 
that her children should have a treat on this 
one day. She had laid away a few dried ap- 



this one day you can have all you wish." So 
bitter was the misery relieved by that one bright 
day, that I have never since sat down to a 
Christmas dinner without my thoughts going 
back to Donner Lake. 

The storms would often last ten days at 
a time, and we would have to cut chips from 
the logs inside which formed our cabins, in or- 
der to start a fire. We could scarcely walk, and 
the men had hardly strength to procure wood. 
We would drag ourselves through the snow from 
one cabin to another, and some mornings snow 
would have to be shoveled out of the fireplace 
before a fire could be made. Poor little children 
were crying with hunger, and mothers were cry- 
ing because they had so little to give their chil- 
dren. We seldom thought of bread, we had been 
without it so long. Four months ofsuch suftering 
would fill the bravest hearts with despair. 

During the closing days of December, 1846, 
gold was found in my mother's cabin at Don- 



ACJWSS THE ri.AlXS I.\ Til/-: nOiWKR I'ARTV {^1846). 



A^% 



ncr Lake by John Dfiiton. I remember the 
night well. The storm fiends were shriekin;; 
in their wild mirth, we were sitting about the 
fire in our little tlark home, busy with our 
thoughts. Denton with his cane kept knock- 
ing pieces ort' the large rocks used as rire-irf)ns 
on which to place the wood. Something bright 
attracted his attention, and picking up pieces 
of the ro( k he examined them closely ; then 
turning to my mother he said. "Mrs. Reed, 
this is gold." My mothcrreplied that she wished 
it were bread. Denton knocked more chi])S 
trom the rocks, and he hunted in the ashes 
for the shining particles until he had gathered 
about a teaspoonful. This he tied in a small 
piece of buckskin and ])laced in his pocket, say- 
ing, "If we ever get away from here I am com- 
ing back for more." Denton started out with 
the first relief party but perished on the way, 
anil no one thought of the gold in his pocket. 
I )enton was about thirty years of age ; he was 
bom in Sheffield, England, and was a gun- 
smith and gold-l)eater by trade. (Jold has never 
been found on the shore of the lake, but a few 
miles from there in the mountain canons, from 
which this rock pos.sibly came, rich mines have 
been discovered. 

Time dragged slowly along till we were no 
longeron short allowance but were simply starv- 
ing. My mother determined to make an eflbrt 
to cross the mountains. She could not see her 
children die without tr)ing to get them food. 1 1 
was hard to leave them but she felt that it must 
be done. She told them she would bring them 
bread, so they were willing to stay, and with no 
guide but a compass we started — my mother, 
Eliza, Milt Elliott and myself Milt wore snow 
shoes and we followed in his tracks. We were 
five days in the mountains ; Eli/a gave out the 
first day and had to return, but we kept on 
and climbed one high mountain after another 
only to see others higher still ahead. Often I 
would have to crawl up the mountains, being too 
tired to walk. The nights were made hideous 
by the screams of wild beasts heard in the dis- 
tance. Again, we would be lulleil to sleep by 
the moan of the ])ine trees, whic h seemed to 
sympathize with our loneliness. One morning 
we awoke to find ourselves in a well of snow. 
During the night, while m the deep sleep of ex- 
haustion, the heat of the fire had melted the snow 
and our little (amp had gradually sunk manv 
feet below the surface until we were literally 
buried in a well of snow. The danger was that 
an\ attem|)t to get out might bring an avalani he 
ujjon us, but finally steps were carefully made 
and we reached the surface. My foot was 
badly frozen, so we were compelled to return, 
and just in time, for that night a storm came on. 
the most fearful of the winter, and we should 
have perished had we not been in the cabins. 



Wenow had nothing to eat but raw hidesand 
they were on the roof of the cabin to keep out 
the snow ; when prepared for cooking and boiled 
they were simply a pot of glue. When the hides 
were taken oft" our cabin and we were left with- 
out shelter .Mr. I'.reen gave us a home with 
his family, and Mrs. Hreen prolonged my life 
by slijjping me little bits of meat now and then 
when she disi overecl that I < f)uld not eat the 
hide. Death had already claimed many in our 
l)arty and it seemed as though relief never 
would reach us. liaylis Williams, who had 
been in delicate health before we left Spring- 
field, was the first to die ; he passed away be- 
fore starvation had really set in. 

I am a Catholic although my parents wore 
not. I often went to the Catholic < hun h before 
leaving home, but it was at Donner Lake that 
I made the vow to be a Catholic. The Hreens 
were the only Catholic family in the Donner 
party and prayers were said aloud regularly 
in that cabin night and morning. Our only light 
was from little ])ine sticks split up like kin- 
tiling wood and kept constantly on the hearth. 
1 was very fond of kneeling by the side of Mr. 
Breen and holding these little torches so that 
he might see to rea<l. One night we had all 
gone to bed — I was with my mother and the 
little ones, all huddled together to keep from 
freezing — but I could not sleep. It was a 
fearful night and I felt that the hour was not 
far distant when we would go to sleep — never 
to wake again in this world. All at once I found 
myself on my knees with my hands clasped, 
looking up through the darkness, making a vow 
that if God would send us relief and let me see 
my father again I would be a Catholic. That 
prayer was answered. 

On his arrival at Sutter's Fort, my father 
made known the situation of the emigrants, 
and Captain Suiter otTeretl at once to do ever)'- 
thing pos.sible for their relief. He furnished 
horses and ])rovisions and my father and .Mr. 
McClutchen .started for the mountains, com- 
ing as far as possible with horses ami then 
with packs on their backs proceeding on 
foot; but they were finally <ompelled to re- 
turn. C"aptain Sutter was not sur|)rised at 
their defeat. He stated that there were no able- 
bodied men in that vicinity, all having gone 
down the country with Eremont to fight the 
Mexicans. He advised my father to go to 
\'erba Buena, now San Erancisco, and make 
his case known to the naval ofticerin command. 
My father was in fa( t ( t>n<lucting parties there 
— when the seven members of the Forlorn 
Ho|)e arrived from across the mountains. Their 
famished facestohl the story. Cattle were killed 
and men were up all night drying beef and mak- 
ing flour by hand mills, nearly 200 [)Ounds be- 
ing made in one night, and a party of seven, 



424 ACROSS THE PLAINS IN THE DONNER PARTY {1846). 





J 










ON THE WAY TO THE SUMMIT. 










commanded by Captain Reasen P. Tucker, 
were sent to our relief by Captain Sutter and 
the alcalde, Mr. Sinclair. On the evening of 
February 19th, 1847, they reached our cabins, 
where all were starving. They shouted to at- 
tract attention. Mr. Breen, clambered up the 
icy steps from our cabin, and soon we heard 
the blessed words, " Relief, thank God, re- 
lief! " There was joy at Donner Lake that 
night, for we did not know the fate of the 



Forlorn Hope and we were told that relief par- 
ties would come and go until all were across 
the mountains. But with the joy sorrow was 
strangely blended. There were tears in other 
eyes than those of children ; strong men sat 
down and wept. For the dead were lying 
about on the snow, some even unburied, since 
the living had not had strength to bury their 
dead. When Milt Elliott died, — our faithful 
friend, who seemed so hke a brother, — my 



ACROSS THE PLAINS IN THE DONNE R TARTY {/S46). 



425 



mother and I dragged liiin up «>ul of tlic cal)iii 
and covered liim with sncjw. Commencing at 
liis feet, 1 patted the pure white snow «lown 
softly until 1 reached his face. Poor Milt! it 
wa> hard to cover that face from sight forever, 
for with his death our best friend was gone. 

On the 2 2d of February the first relief 
started with a party of twenty-three — men, 
women and children. My mother and her fam- 
ily were among the number. It was a bright 
sunny morning anil we felt happy, but we had 
not gone far wiien Patty and I'ommy gave out. 
They were not able to stand the fatigue and 
it was not thought safe to allow them to pro- 
ceed, so Mr. Glover informed mama that they 
would have to be sent back to the cabins to 
await the next expedition. What language can 
express our feelings ? My mother said that she 
would tro back with her children — that we 
would all go back together. Ihis the relief 
party would not permit, and Mr. Glover ])rom- 
ised mama that as soon as they reached Bear 
Valley he himself would return for her chil- 
dren. Finally my mother, turning to Mr. Glover 
said, " Are you a Mason ? " He replied that 
he was. " Will you promise mc on the word 
of a Mason that if we do not meet their father 
you will return and save my children ? " He 
l)ledged himself that he would. My father was 
a member of the Mystic Tie and mama had 
great faith in the word of a Mason. It was 
a sad parting — a fearful struggle. The men 
turned aside, not being able to hide their tears. 
Patty said, '• 1 want to see i)apa, but I will take 
good care of Tommy and I do not want you 
to c(jme back." Mr. Glover returned with the 
children and, providing them with food, left 
them in the care of Mr. Breen. 

With sorrowful hearts we traveled on, walk- 
ing through the snow in single file. The men 
wearing snow-shoes broke the way and we lol- 
lowed in their tracks. .\t night we lay down 
on the snow to sleep, to awake to find our 
clothingall frozen, even to our shoe-strings. \i 
itreak of day we were again on the road, owing 
to the fact that we could make better time 
over the frozen snow. The sunshine, which it 
would seem would have been welcome, only 
added to our misery. The dazzling reflection 
of the snow was very trying to the eyes, while 
its heat melted our frozen clothing, making 
them cling to our bodies. My brother was too 
small to step in the tracks made by the men, and 
in order to travel he had to place his knee on the 
little hill of snow after each step and climb over. 
Mother coaxed him along, telling him that 
everv step he took he was getting nearer pajja 
and nearer something to eat. He was the 
youngest child that walked over the Sierra 
Nevada. On our second day's journey John 
Denton gave out and declared it wouKl be im- 
Vbu XI. II. — 55. 



possible for him to travel, but he begged his 
companions to < ontinue their journey. A fire 
was l)uilt and he was left lying on a l)ed of 
freshly cut pine boughs, peacefully smoking. 
He looked so comfortable that my little brother 
wante<l to stay with him ; but when the second 
relief party reached him poor Denton was past 
waking. His lastthoughtsseemed tohave gone 
back to his childhood's home, as a little poem 
wa.s found by his side, the pencil apparently 
just drojjped from his hand. 

Captain Tucker's party on their way to the 
cabins had lightened their i)acks of a sufiicient 
quantity of provisions to supply the sufl'erers 
on their way out. But when we reached the 
place where the cache had been made by 
hanging the food on a tree, we were horrified 
to find that wild animals had destroyed it, and 
again starvation stared us in the face. But my 
father was hurrying over the mountains, and 
met us in our hour of need with his hands full 
of bread. He had expected to ineet us on this 
tlay,and had stayed up a'l night baking Ijread 
to give us. He brought with him fourteen 
men. Some of his jjarty were ahead, and when 
they saw us coming they called out, "Is Mrs. 
Reed with you ? If she is, tell her .Mr. Reed 
is here," We heard the call ; mother knelt on 
the snow, while I tried to run to meet papa. 

When my father learned that two of his 
children were still at the cabins, he hurried 
on, so fearful was he that they might perish be- 
fore he reached them. He seemed to fly over 
the snow, and made in two days the distance 
we had been five in traveling, and was over- 
joyed to find Patty and Tommy alive. He 
reached Donner Lake on the first of March, 
and what a sight met his gaze! The fam- 
ished little children and the death-like look 
of all made his heart ache. He fillet! Patty's 
apron with biscuits, which she carried around, 
giving one to each person. He had soup made 
for the infirm, and rendered ever>- assistance 
possible to the sufi'erers. Leaving them with 
about seven days' provisions, he started out 
with a party of seventeen, all that were able to 
travel. Three of his men were left at the cab- 
ins to procure wood and assist the helpless. 
My father's party (the second relief) had not 
traveled many miles when a storm broke 
upon them. With the snow came a perfect 
hurricane. The crying of half-frozen chihlren. 
the lamenting of the mothers, and the surter- 
ing of the whole party was heart-rending ; 
and above all couUl be heard the shrieking of 
the storm King. One w ho has never witnessecl 
a bliz-rard in the Sierra can form no idea of 
the situation. .All night my father and his men 
worked unceasingly through the raging storm. 
tr)-ing to erect shelter fi>r the dying women 
and children. .\t times the hurricane would 



426 ACROSS THE PLAINS IN THE BONNER PARTY {1846). 

burst forth with such violence that he felt 
alarmed on account of the tall timber surround- 
ing the camp. The party were destitute of food, 
all suppUes that could be spared having been 
left with those at the cabins. The relief party 
had cached provisions on their way over to 
the cabins, and my father had sent three of the 
men forward for food before the storm set 
in ; but they could not return. Thus, again, 
death stared all in the face. At one time the fire 
was nearly gone; had it been lost, all would 
have perished. Three days and nights they 
were exposed to the fury of the elements. Fi- 
nally my father became snow-blind and could 
do no more, and he would have died but for 
the exertions of William McClutchen and Hi- 
ram Miller, who worked over him all night. 
From this time forward, the toil and respon- 
sibility rested upon McClutchen and Miller. 

The storm at last ceased, and these two 
determined to set out over the snow and send 
back relief to those not able to travel. Hiram 
Miller picked up Tommy and started. Patty 
thought she could walk, but gradually every- 
thing faded from her sight, and she too 
seemed to be dying. All other sufferings were 
now forgotten, and everything was done to 
revive the child. My father found some 
crumbs in the thumb of his woolen mitten ; 
warming and moistening them between his 
own lips, he gave them to her and thus saved 
her Hfe, and afterward she was carried along 
by different ones in the company. Patty was 
not alone in her travels. Hidden away in her 
bosom was a tiny doll, which she had carried 
day and night through all of our trials. Sit- 
ting before a nice, bright fire at Woodworth's 
Camp, she took dolly out to have a talk, and 
told her of all her new happiness. 

There was untold suffering at that " Starved 
Camp," as the place has since been called. 
When my father reached Woodworth's Camp, 
a third relief started in at once and rescued 
the hving. A fourth rehef went on to Donner 
Lake, as many were still there — and many re- 
main there still, including George Donner and 
wife, Jacob Donner and wife and four of their 
children. George Donner had met with an ac- 
cident which rendered him unable to travel ; 
and his wife would not leave him to die alone. 
It would take pages to tell of the heroic acts 
and noble deeds of those who lie sleeping 
about Donner Lake. 



San Jose, Cal. 



Most of the survivors, when brought in from 
the mountains, were taken by the different relief 
pardes to Sutter's Fort, and the generous 
hearted captain did everything possible for 
the sufferers. Out of the eighty-three persons 
who were snowed in at Donner Lake, forty- 
two perished, and of the thirty-one emigrants 
who left Springfield, IlHnois, that spring morn- 
ing, only eighteen lived to reach California. 
Alcalde Sinclair took my mother and her family 
to his own home, and we were surrounded with 
every comfort. Mrs. Sinclair was the dearest 
of women. Never can I forget their kindness. 
But our anxiety was not over, for we knew 
that my father's party had been caught in the 
storm. I can see my mother now, as she 
stood leaning against the door for hours at a 
time, looking towards the mountains. At last 
my father arrived at Mr. Sinclair's with the 
little ones, and our family were again united. 
That day's happiness repaid us for much 
that we had suffered; and it was spring in 
California, 

Words cannot tell how beautiful the spring 
appeared to us coming out of the mountains 
from that long winter at Donner Lake in our 
little dark cabins under the snow. Before us 
now lay, in all its beauty, the broad valley of 
the Sacramento. I remember one day, when 
traveling down Napa Valley, we stopped 
at noon to have lunch under the shade of an 
oak ; but I was not hungry ; I was too full 
of the beautiful around me to think of eat- 
ing. So I wandered off by myself to a lovely 
Httle knoll and stood there in a bed of wild 
flowers, looking up and down the green valley, 
all dotted with trees. The birds were singing 
with very joy in the branches over my head, 
and the blessed sun was smiHng down upon 
all as though in benediction. I drank it in for 
a moment, and then began kissing my hand 
and wafting kisses to Heaven in thanksgiving 
to the Almighty for creating a world so beau- 
tiful. I felt so near God at that moment that 
it seemed to me 1 could feel His breath warm 
on my cheek. By and by I heard papa call- 
ing, " Daughter, where are you ? Come, child, 
we are ready to start, and you have had 
no lunch," I ran and caught him by the hand, 
saying, " Buy this place, please, and let us 
make our home here." He stood looking 
around for a moment, and said, "It is a 
lovely spot," and then we passed on. 

Virginia Reed Murphy. 




ox Tfrr. .ixnr.Rso.wrr r.r. crRcrir. 



'05 



Sailors in natty uniforms leaned over the 
rail, and looking down U|ion the derk of our 
rusty old coc kle-shcll they j;ave us a welcome 
cheer. Officers on board, and others passing 
to and fro in small boats over the (•ho|)|)y sea. 
waved us a salute. This was the sixth time we 
liad left prison or stockade for exchange, and 
it now seemed that our guards hatl for once 
told us the truth. W'e had often said, during 
the weary months from Libby to Florence, 
that when we should again see the old flag 
we would shout until we woke the echoes for 
miles around. But it was a feeble cheer that 
went u]) from the wrecks of men scpiatting on 
the open deck. Here and there some of the 
stronger ones formed knots of five or six and 
broke into such a wild dance or walk around, 
cheering, yelling, and singing the while, that 
they might have been regarded as maniacs 
loosed from their cells. Some knelt in silent 
prayer, and tear-drops cut faint furrows down 
grimy cheeks where they had long been 
strangers. Others swore and cursed. They 
cursed everybody related to the Confederacy 
and the things that had contributed to the 
hardships of their prison experiem e ; and 
as if there were not material enough to 
curse on that side, they crossed the lines and 
cursed Lincoln and Grant because of the 
broken cartel. I hugged to my side the 
little bag of grits I had accumulated. The 
bag was made of remnants of clothing and 
held about a quart. I could not cat the grits, 
but dared not let them go until l knew we 
were surely free. I had starved so long that 
these broken kernels of corn were very pre- 
cious. I was constantly hoping to barter them 
for something that I could eat, or possibly for 
a dose of (juinine or .some peppers. But now 
a gang |)lank was run out from an opening in 
the side of the transport. It was lined on 
each side with sailors, who pushed us rapidly 
along and aboard the big vessel. In the hold 
before us was a great stack of blue uniforms 
and clean underclothing comjjlete from cap to 
shoes. Kind attendants too were there to as- 
sist us, and they said, " Strij) now, quick: take 
everything off" ; and then, " Throw your rags 
overboard," and out they went through a 
port-hole just overhead. They were very filthy ; 
for they were the remnants of what we had 
wom a year and a half before in the Chatta- 
nooga campaign, remnants of what we had 
gained in traffic with our guards, remnants of 
what we had taken from the bodies of our 
<kail. They had been held together by threads 
raveled from the stronger parts and sewed with 

1 We cilk-fl re.ll coflfoc " United St.Ttcs coffee " to <lis- 
tinguisl) it from burnt corn, burnt corn bread or meal, 



needles made from sjdinters of Georgia pine. 
We thought Charleston harbor a fit burying- 
ground for them all. .\s fast as dressed we 
were marched in two ranks to an upper deck, 
where we ])assed a small window from which 
was handed a loaf of bread to each of us — 
a pound loaf of wheat bread. At another 
window each received a great piece of raw fat 
pork — a half-pound, and the sweetest morsel I 
ever tasted. At still another window each g(Jt 
a pint cuj) full of .steaming United States 
coffee.* It was then, when our digestive or- 
gans had .something on which to work, when 
we were decently clothed and were at last free 
from the torture of vermin, that lost manhood 
began to retum. P^ach did not now look upon 
his fellow as something to be watched and 
feared. We did not watch that night lest our 
bread should be stolen. In fact it was reported 
that we would receive rations again in the 
morning, which was hard to believe. Some 
after being rationed ont c fell into line the 
second and even a third time and hoarded their 
bread and meat. When their actions were 
noted they were told to take all they wanted. 
Rounding Cape Hatterasmuch of this bread 
and meat was brought to light again, and for 
forty-eight hours the ship presented anything 
but the neat and trim appearance we noticed 
when we first went aboard. The ship's sur- 
geon, the officers and their wives, vied with the 
sailors in attentions to their passengers. Five 
only of our number died on the trip to An- 
napolis, and here, after we had been again 
stripped, and washed, and our hair clij)ped 
close, we were put to bed between white sheets. 
Women came to my cot with oysters t'resh 
from the bay, with bread and butter, jellies 
and pickles, with shining glass and snow-white 
nai)kins. and when I had eaten they saitl, 
•• .Now vou just rest and sleep, and dream of 
home." When I was able to read the caril at 
the hea<l of my cot. I found, " Phthisis |nil- 

monalis, fever, general debility ; diet. ; 

treatment, ." I cannot remember the <liet 

nor the treatment, but I remember well the 
ministrations of these women ; how they 
hovered round my cot, touching up my pillow, 
and how their ( ool hantls rested on my hot 
forehead. I do not know whether they were 
army nurses, residents of .Annapolis, or mem- 
bers of Christian an<l sanitary commissions: 
I never knew; but the soldiers have not for- 
gotten their ministrations, and give to woman's 
loyalty and patriotism a " roval three times 

three." 

J. T. Kiiij^. 



I»urnt sw 
stitutes.ni 



etc., wlii 
•Con fed 



fd as sub- 



VoL. XI. I.— 15. 





r'-.5'"/r „■', 



u I, 






A PERIL OF THE PLAINS. 



THE FIRST EMIGRANT TRAIN TO CALIFORNIA. 

BY JOHN BIDWELL (PIONEER OF '41). 




'N the spring of 1839, 
— living at the time 
in the western part 
of Ohio, — being then 
in my twentieth year, 
I conceived a desire 
to see the great 
prairies of the West, 
especially those most frequently spoken of, in 
Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. Emigration from 
the East was tending westward, and settlers had 
already begun to invade those rich fields. 

Starting on foot to Cincinnati, ninety miles 
distant, I fortunately got a chance to ride most 
of the way on a wagon loaded with farm pro- 
duce. My outfit consisted of about $75, the 
clothes I wore, and a few others in a knapsack 
which I carried in the usual way strapped 
upon my shoulders, for in those days travelers 
did not have valises or trunks. Though trav- 
eling was considered dangerous, I had no 
weapon more formidable than a pocket-knife. 
From Cincinnati I went down the Ohio River 
by steamboat to the Mississippi, up the Mis- 
sissippi to St. Louis, and thence to I3urlington, 

io5 



in what was then the Territory of Iowa. Those 
were bustling days on the western rivers, which 
were then the chief highways of travel. The 
scenes at the wood landings I recall as particu- 
larly lively and picturesque. Many passengers 
would save a little by helping to " wood the 
boat," /. <"., by carrying wood down the bank 
and throwing it on the boat, a special ticket 
being issued on that condition. It was very 
interesting to see the long lines of passengers 
coming up the gang-plank, each with two or 
three sticks of wood on his shoulders. An anec- 
dote is told of an Irishman who boarded a 
western steamer and wanted to know the fare 
to St. Louis, and, being told, asked, " What do 
you charge for 1 50 pounds of freight ? " Upon 
learning the price, a small amount, he an- 
nounced that he would go as freight. " All 
right," said the captain ; " put him down in 
the hold and lay some flour barrels on him 
to keep him down." 

In 1839 Burlington had perhaps not over 
two hundred inhabitants, though it was the 
capital of Iowa Territory. After consultation 
with the governor, Robert Lucas of Ohio, I 



Tif/-: FIRST K.\n(;i<A.\r iraix ro caljiorma. 



107 



concluded to go into the interior and sclc( t 
a tract of land on the Iowa River. In those 
days one was permitted to take up 160 acres, 
and where practicable it was usual to take |)art 
timber and part prairie, .\fter working awhile 
at putting up a log house — until all the peo 
|)le in the neighborhood became ill with fever 
and ague — I conclude<l to move on and strike 
out to the south and southwest into Missouri. 
I traveleil acro.ss country, sometimes by the 
sun, without roatl or trail. There were houses 
antl settlements, but they wx-re scattered ; some- 
times one would have to go twenty miles to 
fmd a place to stay at night. 'I'he jjrincipal 
game seen was the prairie hen ( Tctraonidce 
cupUo); the prairie wolf {Canis 
liitrans) also abounded. Continu- 
ing southwest and passing through 
Huntsville I struck the Missouri 
Kivernear Keytesville in Chariton 
County. 'I'hence I continued up the 
north side of the river till the west- 
ernmost settlement in Missouri was 
reached ; this was in Platte County. 
The Platte Purchase,asit wascalled, 
had been recently bought from the 
Indians, and was newly but thickly 
settled, on account of its proximity 
to navigation, its fine timber, good 
water, and unsurpassed fertility. 

( )n the route I traveled I cannot 
recall seeing an emigrant wagon in 
Missouri. The western movement, 
which subseijuently filled Missouri 
and other Western States and over- 
flowed into the ailjoining Territo- 
ries, had then hardly begun, ex- 
cept as to Platte County. The 
contest in Congress over the Platte 
Purcha.se, which by increasing the 
area of Missouri gave more terri- 
tory to slavery, called w ide attention 
to that charming region. The anti- 
slavery sentiment even at that date 
ran cpiite high. This wa.s, I believe, 
the first addition to slave territory 
after the Mi.ssouri Compromise. Put 
slavery won. The rush that fol- 
lowed in the space of one or two 
years filled the most desirable |)art 
of the purchase to (nerflowing. I'he 
imagination couUl not conceive a 
finer country — lovely, rolling, fertile, won- 
ilerfully productive, beautifully arranged for 
settlement, part jirairie and part timber. The 
land was unsurveyed. Kvery settler had aimed 
to locate a half-mile from his neighbor, anil 
there was as yet no conflict. Peace anil con- 
tentment reigned. Nearly every place seemed to 
havea beautiful springof clear cold water. The 
hills and prairies and the level places were alike 



covered with ablac kandferlilesoil. I cannot re- 
call seeing an acre of poor land in Platte C'ounty. 
Of course there was intense longing on the part 
of the peopleof Missouri tohave the Indians re- 
m(ned, and a corresponding desire, as soon as 
the pur( hase was consummated, to get posses- 
.<;ion of the beautiful land. 1 1 was in .some sense 
])erhaps a kind of Oklahoma movement. .\n- 
other feature was the abundance of wild honey- 
bees. Every tree that had a hollow in it seemed 
to be a bee- tree, and every hollow was full of ri( h 
goUlen honey. A singular fat t which I learned 
from old hunters was that the honey-bee was 
never found more than seventy or eighty miles 
in advance of the white settlements on the 




(F 



JOHN UIDWRU- 
KOM A DAGL'BKRBOTVPK T\KKN PV HRAOV IN 1850) 

frontier. On this aurai tne laml 1 .set my al- 
feclions. intending to make it my home. 

On my arrival, my money being all spent, 
I was obliged to accept the first thing that 
ofl'ered. anil began teaching school in the 
country about five miles from the tow n of 
Weston, which was located on the north side 
of the Missouri River and about four miles 
above I'ort Leavenw orth in Kansas Territor)'. 



io8 



THE FIRST EMIGRANT TRAIN TO CAIIFORNIA. 




THE MISSOURI RIVER AT WESTOK, FROM THE KANSAS SIDE. 

Possibly some may suppose it did not take 
much education to teach a country school at 
that period in Missouri. The rapid settlement 
of that new region had brought together people 
of all classes and conditions, and had thrown into 
juxtaposition almost every phase of intelligence 
as well as of illiteracy. But there was no lack 
of self-reliance or native shrewdness in any 
class, and I must say that I learned to have 
a high esteem for the people, among whom I 
found warm and lifelong friends. 

But even in Missouri there were drawbacks. 
Rattlesnakes and copperheads were abundant. 
One man, it was said, found a place to suit 
him, but on alighting from his horse heard 
so many snakes that he concluded to go 
farther. At his second attempt, finding more 
snakes instead of fewer, he left the country 
altogether. I taught school there in all about 
a year. My arrival was in June, 1839, and in 
the fall of that year the surveyors came on 
to lay out the country : the lines ran every 
way, sometimes through a man's house, some- 
times through his barn, so that there was much 
confusion and trouble about boundaries, etc. 
By the favor of certain men, and by paying a 
small amount for a little piece of fence here 
and a small clearing there, I got a claim, and 
purposed to make it my home, and to have 
my father remove there from Ohio. 

In the following summer, 1840, the weather 
was very hot, so that during the vacation I 
could do but little work on my place, and 
needing some supjilies, — books, clothes, etc., — 
I concluded to take a trip to St. Louis, which 



SITE OF THE OLD STOCKADE, FORT LEAVENWORTH. 

I did by way of the Missouri River. The dis- 
tance was six hundred miles by water; the 
down trip occupied two days, and was one of 
the most delightful experiences of my life. 
But returning, the river being low and full of 
snags, and the steamboat heavily laden, — the 
boats were generally light going down, — we 
were continually getting on sand bars, and 
were delayed nearly a month. This trip 
proved to be the tuniing-point in my life, for 
while I was gone a man had jumped my land. 
Generally in such cases public sentiment was 
against the jumper, and it was decidedly so 
in my case. But the scoundrel held on. He 
was a bully — had killed a man in Callaway 
County — and everybody seemed afraid of 
him. Influential friends of mine tried to per- 
suade him to let me have eighty acres, half of 
the claim. But he was stubborn, and said that 
all he wanted was just what the law allowed 
him. Unfortunately for me, he had the legal ad- 
vantage. I had worked some now and then 
on the place, but had not actually lived on it. 
The law required a certain residence, and that 
the preemptor should be twenty-one years of 
age or a man of family. I was neither, and 
could do nothing. Nearly all I had earned 
had been spent upon the land, and when that 



nil / IKST KMU.KAXT '/h.t/X JO CAIJIOKXJA. 



109 



was taken I lost alxnit cv(.rything I had. 'I'licrc 
beinj^' no possiliiliiy of gettinj^ anotlicr ilaim 
to suit mc, I resolved to go elsewhere when 
spring should open. 

In Xovember or December of 1S40, while 
still teaching school in Platte County, I came 
across a Frenchman named Roubideaux, who 
said he had been to California. He had been 
a trader in New Mexico, and had followeil 
the road traveled by traders from the frontier 



we < ouid ask him was answered favorably. 
Cenerally the first (|uestion which a Missourian 
asked about a country was whether there was 
any fever and ague, I remember his answer 
distinctly. He said there was but one man in 
California that had ever had a chill there, and 
it was a matter of so much wonderment to the 
pco]ile of M(jntercy that they went eighteen 
miles intcj the country to see him shake. .Noth- 
ing could have been more satisfactory on the 




LOW WATP.R ON THK MISSOl'RI. 



of Missouri to Santa Fc. He had probably 
gone through what is now New Mexico and 
Arizona into California by the (lila River trail 
used by the Mexicans. His description of Cal- 
ifornia was in the superlative degree favorable, 
>.o much so that I resolved if possible to see 
that wonderful lantl, and with others helped 
to get uj) a meeting at Weston and invited 
him to make a statement before it in regard 
to the country. At that time when a man 
moved out West, as soon as he was fairly settled 
he wanted to move again, and naturally every 
{|uestion imaginable was asked in regard to 
this wonderful country. Roubideaux described 
it as one of perennial spring and bfjumlless 
fertility, and laid stress on the countless thou- 
sands of wild horses and cattle. He told abcfiit 
oranges, and hence must have been at I-os 
•Xngeles, or the mission of San (iabriel, a few 
miles from it. Every conceivable cjuestion that 



score of health. He said that the Spanish au- 
thorities were most frienilly, and that the people 
were the most hospitable on the globe ; that 
you could travel all over California and it 
would cost you nothing for horses or food. 
Even the Indians were friendly. His de- 
scription of the country made it seem like a 
Paradise. 

The result was that we appointed a corrc- 
sjjonding .secretary, and a committee to rejjort 
a i)lan of organization. .\ pledge was drawn 
up in which every signer agreed to purchase 
a suitable outfit, and to rendezvous at Sapling 
Clrove in what is now the State of Kan.sas, on 
the 9th of the following May, armed and 
e(|uii)petl to cross the Ro< ky Mountains to 
California. We called ourselves the Western 
Immigration Society, and as soon as the pledge 
was drawn up every one who agreed to come 
signed his name to it, and it took like wildfire. 



77//: FIRST EMIGRANT TRAIN TO CAUFORXIA. 



1 1 1 



In a short time. I think within a month, wc In 1840 there hved in ("alifomia an old 
had aI)Out five hundred names; we also had Rocky Mountaineer l>y the name of Isaac (;ra- 
correspondence on the subject with people all ham. He was injudicious in his talk, and hv 
over Mis.souri, ami even as far ea.st as Illinois boasting that the United States or Texas would 
and Kentucky, and as far south as .Arkansas, some day take California, he excited the hos- 
As soon as the movement was announced in tility and jealousy of the i)eoj)Ie. In those days 
the papers we had many letters of inipiiry, and .Vmericans were iield in disfavor by the native 
we expected people in considerable numbers Californians on account of the war made by 
to join us. .About that time we heard of a man Americans in Texas to wrest Texas from Mex- 
living in Jackson County, Missouri, who had ico. The number of .Americans in California 
received a letter from a person in California at this time was very small. When I went to 
named Dr. .Marsh, s])eaking favorably of the California in 1841 all the foreigners — and all 
country, and a copy of this letter was published, were foreigners except Indians and Mexicans 

()ur ignorance of the route was comi)lete. — <Iid not, I think, exceed one hundred; nor was 
We knew that California lay we.st, and that the character of all ofthem the most prepos.sess- 
was the extent of our knowledge. Some of the ing. Some had been trappers in the Rocky 
maps consulted, supposed of course to be cor- Mountains who had not seen civilization for a 
rect, .showed a lake in the vicinity of where (piarterofa century ; others were men who had 
Salt Lake now is ; it was represented as a long found their way into California, as Roubideaux 
lake, three or four hundred miles in extent, had done, by way of .Mexico ; others still had 
narrow and with two outlets, both running into gone down the Columbia River to Oregon and 
the Pacific Ocean, either apparently larger than joined trapping parties in the .service of the 
the Mississippi River. .An intelligent man with Hudson Hay Company going from Oregon to 
whom I boardeil — Klam IJrown, who till re- California — men who' would let their beards 
cently lived in California, dying when over grow down to their knees, and wear buckskin 
ninety years of age — possessed a map that garments made and fringed like those of the 
showed these rivers to be large, and he advi.sed Indians, and who considered it a conii)liment 
me to take tools along to make canoes, .so to be told ' I took ye for an Injin." .Another 
that if we found the country so rough that class of men from the Rocky Mountains were 
we ( ould not get along with our wagons we in the habit of making their wav by the .Mohave 
could descend one of those rivers to the Pa- Desert .south of the Sierra Nevada into Cali- 
cific. ?]ven Fremont knew nothing about Salt fomia to steal horses, sometimes driving off 
Lake until 1S43, when for the first time he ex- four or five hundred at a time. The other 
plored it and ma])i)ed it correctly, his report .Americans, most numerous jierhajjs, were sail- 
being first printed, 1 think, in 1845. ors who had run away from vessels and re 

This being the first movement to cross the mained in the country. With few exceptions 
Rocky Mountains to California, it is not sur- this was the character of the .American popu- 
|in>ing that it suffered reverses before we were lation when I came to California, anil they were 
fairly started. One of these was the publica- not generally a cla.ss calculated to gain much 
tion of a letter in a New York newspaper giv- fiivorwith the people. Farnham happened to 
ing a depressing view (jf the country for which come into the Ixay of Monterev when this fel- 
we were all so confidently longing. It seems low (iraham and hisconfederates.andall others 
that in 1837 or 1838 a man by the name of whom the Californians suspected, were under 
I'arnham, a lawyer, went from New York City arrest in irons on board a vessel, ready for 
into the Rocky .Mountains for his health. He tran.sportation to San IJIas in Mexico, whither 
was an invalid, hopelessly gone with consumj)- indeed they were taken, and where some of 
lion it was thought, and as a last resort he went them died in irons. I am not sure that at this 
into the mountains, traveled with the trap- time the Fnglish had a consul in California ; 
pers, lived in the open air as the trappers but the United States had none, and there was 
lived, eating only meat as they did, and in no one there to take the i)art of the .Americans, 
two or three years he entirely regained his Farnham, being a lawyer, doubtless knew that 
health ; but nistead of returning east by wav the proceetling was illegal. He went ashore 
of St. Louis, as he had gone, he went down and protested against it, l)ut without effect, as 
the Columbia River and took a vessel to he was only a private individual. Probably he 
.Monterey and thence to San Bias, making his was there on a burning hot day, and .saw onlv 
way through Mexico to New York. Upon his the dreary sandhills to the east of the old 
return — in February or March. 1 84 1 — he pub- town of Monterey. On arriving in New York he 
lished the letter mentioned. His bad opinion |)ublished the letter referred to, describing how 
of California was ba.sed wholly on his unfortu- .Ameri< ans were oppressed by the nati\e Cali- 
nate experience in Monterey, which I will fomians, and how dangerous it was for Amer- 
re<-ount. icans to go there. The merchants of Platte 



112 



THE FIRST EMIGRANT TRAIN TO CALIFORNIA. 




'-S'e'^'- 






"l TOOK YE FOR AN INJIN." 



County had all along protested against our go- 
ing, and had tried from the beginning to dis- 
courage and break up the movement, saying it 
was the most unheard-of, foohsh, wild-goose 
chase that ever entered into the brain of man for 
five hundred people to pull up stakes, leave that 
beautiful country, and go away out to a region 
that we knew nothing of. But they made lit- 
tle headway until this letter of Farnham's ap- 
peared. They republished it in a paper in 
the town of Liberty in Clay County, — there be- 
ing no paper pubHshed in Platte County, — and 
sent it broadcast all over the surrounding re- 
gion. The result was that as the people began 
to think more seriously about the scheme the 
membership of the society began dropping off, 
and so it happened at last that of all the five 
hundred that signed the pledge I was the only 
one that got ready ; and even I had hard work 



to do so, for I had barely means to buy a 
wagon, a gun, and provisions. Indeed, the man 
who was going with me, and who was to furnish 
the horses, backed out, and there I was with 
my wagon ! 

During the winter, to keep the project alive, 
I had made two or three trips into Jackson 
County, Missouri, crossing the Missouri River, 
always dangerous in winter when ice was run- 
ning, by the ferry at Westport Landing, now 
Kansas City. Sometimes I had to go ten miles 
farther down — sixty miles from Weston — to a 
safer ferry at Independence Landing in order 
to get into Jackson County, to see men who 
were talking of going to California, and to get 
information. 

At the last moment before the time to start 
for the rendezvous at Sapling Grove — it 
seemed almost providential — along came a 



THE i-fRST r.Mrr.RAxr iraix /o cai.ii-okxia. 



".^ 



man nnmcd Cii-Dr^e Hi'tishaw. an iiivalifljroin 
Illinois. 1 think. lie was pretty well dresseil, 
was riding a tine black horse, and had ten 
or fifteen dollars. I persuaded him to let me 
take his horse an<l trade him for a yoke of 
steers to imll the wagon and a sorry-look- 
ing, one-eyed mule for him to ride. We went 
7'ui Weston to lav in some supplies. ( )ne 
wagon and tour or five persons here joined us. 
On leaving Weston, where there had been so 
much f)pp()sition, we were six or seven in num- 
ber, and nearly half the town followeil us for 
a mile, and some for five or six miles, to l)i(l 
us good-by, showing the deep interest felt in 
our journey. .Ml expressed good wishes and 
<lesired to hear tVom us. When we reached 
Sapling Grove, the place of rendezvous, in 
Mav, 1S41. there was but one wagon ahead 
of u.s. Kor the next few days one or two 
wagons would come each day, and among the 
recruits were three fiimilies from .\rkansas. • 
We organized by electing as captain of the 
company a man named Bartleson from Jack- 
son County, Missouri. He was not the best 
man for the position, but we were given to 
understand that if he was not elected captain 
he would not go; and as he had seven or eight 
men with him, and we tlid not want the party 
diminished, he was chosen, l-'.very one fur- 
nished his own supplies. The i)arty consisted of 
sixty-nine, including men, women, and children. 
( )ur teams were of oxen, mules, and horses. We 
had no cows, as the later emigrants usually 
had, and the lack of milk was a great dei)ri\a- 
tion to the children. It was understood that 
every one should have not less than a barrel 
of Hour with sugar anil so forth to suit ; but I 
laid in one hundred i)0unds of Hour more than 



till- u^ual quantity, besides odier things. This 
I did because we were told that when we got 
into the mountains we probably wouM get out 
of bread and have to live on meat alone, which 1 
thought would kill me even if it did not others. 
.My gun was an old flint-lock rille. but a good 
one. Old hunters told me to have nothing to 
do with ca|) or percussion locks, that they were 
unreliable, and that if I got my caps or percus- 
sion wet I could not shoot, while if I lost my 
tlint I could pick up another on the j>lains. 
I doubt whether there was one hundred dollars 
in money in the whole jiarty, but all were en- 
thusiastic and anxious to go. 

In five days after my arrival we were ready 
to start, but no one knew where to go, ntjt 
even the captain. Finally a man came up, one 
of the last to arrive, and announced that a 
company of Catholic missionaries were on their 
way from St. Louis to the Flathead nation 
of Indians with an old Rocky Mountaineer 
for a guide, and that if we would wait another 
day they would be up with us. .At first we were 
independent, anil thought we could not afford 
to wait for a slow missionary party. Mut when 
we found that no one knew which way to go, 
we sobered ilow n and waited for them to come 
up ; and it was well we did, for otherwise prob- 
ably not one of us would ever have reached 
California, because of our inexperience. .\f'- 
terwards when we came in contact with Indi- 
ans our people were so easily excited that if 
we had not had with us an old mountaineer 
the result would certainly have been di.sastrous. 
The name of the guide was Captain Fitz- 
patrick ; he had been at the head of traj)ping 
parties in the Rocky Mountains tor many 
years. He and the mis.sionary party went with 







U 



>r*^ 



WeSTI^RT LANDING, KANSAS CITV. (KKO" r ii/lsT .iF THR PCRIOD.) 



Vol.. XL!.— 16. 



114 



THE FIRST EMIGRANT TRAIN TO CALIFORNIA. 

^_ _ ness and great affability under all 

circumstances; nothing seemed to 
disturb his temper. The Cana- 
dians had mules and Red River 
carts, instead of wagons and 
horses, — two mules to each cart, 
five or six of them, — and in case of 
steep hills they would hitch three 
or four of the animals to one cart, 
always working them tandem. 
Sometimes a cart would go over, 
breaking everything in it to pieces ; 
and at such times Father De Smet 
would be just the same — beam- 
ing with good humor. 

In general our route lay from 
near Westport, where Kansas City 
now is, northwesterly over the 
prairie, crossing several streams, 
till we struck the Platte River. 
Then we followed along the south 
side of the Platte to and a day's 
journey or so along the South 
Fork. Here the features of the 
country became more bold and 
interesting. Then crossing the 
South Fork of the Platte, and fol- 
lowing up the north side for a 
day or so, we went over to the North Fork and 
camped at Ash Hollow; thence up the north 
side of that fork, passing those noted land- 
marks known as the Court House Rocks, Chim- 
ney Rock, Scott's Bluffs, etc., till we came 
to Fort Laramie, a trading post of the Ameri- 
can Fur Company, near which was Lupton's 
Fort, belonging, as I understood, to some 
rival company. Thence after several days 
we came to another noted landmark called 




FATHER DE SMET. 



us as far as Soda Springs, now in Idaho Ter- 
ritory, whence they turned north to the Flat- 
head nation. The party consisted of three Ro- 
man Catholic priests — Father De Smet, Father 
Pont, Father Mengarini — and ten or eleven 
French Canadians, and accompanying them 
were an old mountaineer named John Gray and 
a young Englishman named Romaine,and also 
a man named Baker. They seemed glad to 
have us with them, and we certainly were glad 
to have their com- 
pany. Father De 
Smet had been to 
the Flathead nation 
before. He had 
gone out with a 
trapping party, and 
on his return had 
traveled with only 
a guide by another 
route, farther to the 
north and through 
hostile tribes. He 
was genial, of fine 
presence, and one 
of the saintliest men 
I have ever known, 
and I cannot won- 
der that the Indians 
were made to be- 
lieve him divinely 
protected. He was 
a man of great kind- 




/^ 



^ J'^ 



l^CDfi\i!;l^tMiNi;Tct/ 



A BIT OF ROUGH ROAD. 



THE FIRST EMIGRANT TRAIN TO CALIEORNIA. 



I'S 




'4^*-.a^'..^,j-. 



J3■|jlPt'('C^[«l^'/iX0^-- 






ON TIIK WAV TO THE PLATTE. 



Indcpcnrlcncc Rock, on a branch of the North 
I'laltccallcd tlic Sweetwater, which we followcil 
up to tlie head, soon after striking the Little 
Sandy, and then tlie Dig Sandy, whicli emp- 
ties into tireen River. Next we crossed (ireen 
River to Black Fork, which we followed up till 
we came to Ham's Fork, at the head of which 
we crossed the divide Iietween (ircen and 
liear rivers. Then we followed Bear River 
liown to Soda Springs. The waters of Bear 
Lake discharged through that river, which we 



continued to follow down on the west side till 
we came to Salt Lake. Then we went around 
the north end of the lake and struck out to the 
west and southwest. 

For a lime, until we reached the Platte 
River, one day was much like another. We set 
forth every morning and cami)ed every night, 
detailing men to stand guarcl. Captain Fitz- 
patrick and the missionary party wouKl gen- 
erally take the lead and we would follow. Fitz- 
patrick knew all about the Indian tribes, and 



lit 



THE FIRST EMIGRANT TRAIN TO CAIIFORNIA. 



when there was any danger we kept in a 
more compact body, to protect one another. At 
other times we would be scattered along, some- 
times for half a mile or more. We were generally 
together, because there was often work to be 
done to avoid delay. We had to make the 
road, frequendy digging down steep banks, 
filling gulches, removing stones, etc. In such 
cases everybody would take a spade or do 
something to help make the road passable. 
When we camped at night we usually drew 
the wagons and carts together in a hollow 
square and picketed our animals inside in the 
corral. The wagons were common ones and 
of no special pattern, and some of them were 



effect, to control and pacify them. Every man 
started his team into a run, till the oxen,, 
like the mules and horses, were in a full gal- 
lop. Captain Intzpatrick went ahead and di- 
rected them to follow, and as fast as they came 
to the bank of the river he put the wagons in 
the form of a hollow square and had all the 
animals securely picketed within. After a while 
the Indians came in sight. There were only 
forty of them, but they were well mounted on 
horses, and were evidently a war party, for 
they had no women except one, a medicine 
woman. They came up and camped within a 
hundred yards of us on the river below. Fitz- 
patrick told us that they would not have come 




*',rf,* . . ', ''»fe'viiViW,,,»M«km «l^MJMllliiyjli| liln.,hllihft.-^llJ^^^^ 4. 

A POWWOW WITH CHEYENNES. 



covered. The tongue of one would be fast- 
ened to the back of another. To lessen the 
danger from Indians, we usually had no fires 
at night and did our cooking in the day- 
time. 

The first incident was a scare that we had 
from a party of Cheyenne Indians just before 
we reached the Platte River, about two weeks 
after we set out. One of our men who chanced 
to be out hunting, some distance from the com- 
pany and behind us, suddenly appeared with- 
out mule, gun, or pistol, and lacking most 
of his clothes, and in great excitement reported 
that he had been surrounded by thousands of 
Indians. The company, too, became excited, 
and Captain Fitzpatrick tried, but with little 



in that way if they were hostile. Our hunter in 
his excitement said that there were thousands 
of them, and that they had robbed him of his 
gun, mule, and pistol. When the Indians had 
put up their lodges Fitzpatrick and John 
Gray, the old hunter mentioned, went out to 
them and by signs were made to understand 
that the Indians did not intend to hurt the 
man or to take his mule or gun, but that he 
was so excited when he saw them that they 
had to disarm him to keep him from shooting 
them ; they did not know what liad become 
of his pistol or of his clothes, which he said 
they had torn oft". They surrendered the mule 
and the gun, thus showing that they were 
friendly. They proved to be Cheyenne Indians. . 



THE FIRST EAf/GRAXT TR.HX TO CA LI FOR XI A. 



117 




I hi: iii.kd. 



Ever afterwards that man went l>v the name 
of Cheyenne Dawson. 

As soon as we struck the buffalo countr)- we 
found a new source of interest. Before reach- 
ing the riatte we had .seen an abundanc e of 
antelope and elk, i^rairie wolves and villages 
of prairie dogs, but only an occasional buffalo. 
We now began to kill buffaloes for food, and at 
the suggestion of John (iray,an(l following the 
practice of Rocky Mountain white hunters, our 
people began to kill them just to get the tongues 
and the marrow bones, leaving all the rest of the 
meat on the plains for the wolves to eat. But 
the Cheyennes, who traveled ahead of us for 
two or three days, set us a better example. .\t 
their camps we noticed that when they killed 
buffaloes they took all the meat, everything but 
the bones. Indians were never wasteful of the 



buffalo e\re])t in winter for the sake of the 
robes, and tlien only in ortler to get the whisky 
which traders offered them in exchange. 'Ihere 
is no better beef in the world than that of 
the buffalo ; it is also very good jerked, /. f., 
cut into strings and thoroughly dried. It was 
an ea.sy matter to kill buffaloes after we got to 
where thev were numerous, by keejiing out of 
sigiu and to the leeward of them. 1 think I 
can truly say that I saw in that region in one- 
day more buffaloes than I have seen of cattle in 
all my life. I have seen the plain black with 
them for several days' journey as far as the eye- 
could reach. They seemed to be coming north- 
ward continually from the distant plains to the 
I'lalte to get water, and would plunge in and 
swim across by thousands — so numerous were 
they that they changed not only the color of the 



[8 



THE FIRST EMIGRANT TRAIN TO CAIIFORNIA. 




A RECRUIT FROM CIVILIZATION. 



Avater, but its taste, until it was unfit to drink ; 
but we had to use it. One nigiit when we 
were encamped on the South Fork of the 
Platte they came in such droves that we had 
to sit up and fire guns and make what fires we 
could to keep them fi-om running over us and 
trampling us into the dust. We were obliged 
to go out some distance firom camp to turn 
them : Captain Fitzpatrick told us that if we 
did not do this the buffaloes in front could not 
turn aside for the pressure of those behind. 
We could hear them thundering all night 
long; the ground fairly trembled with vast 
approaching bands ; and if they had not been 
diverted, wagons, animals, and emigrants would 
have been trodden under their feet. One can- 
not nowadays describe the rush and wildness 
of the thing. A strange feature was that when 
old oxen, tired and foot-sore, got among a 
buffalo herd, as they sometimes would in the 
night, they would soon become as wild as the 
wildest buffalo ; and if ever recovered it was 
because they could not run so fast as the buf- 
faloes or one's horse. The ground over which 
the herds trampled was left rather barren, but 
buffalo-grass being short and curling, in travel- 
ing over it they did not cut it up as much as 
they would other kinds. 

On the Platte River, on the afternoon of one 
of the hottest days we experienced on the 



plains, we had a taste of a cyclone : first came a 
terrific shower, followed by a fall of hail to the 
depth of four inches, some of the stones being 
as large as turkeys' eggs ; and the next day a 
waterspout — an angry, huge, whirling cloud 
column, which seemed to draw its water from 
the Platte River — passed within a quarter 
of a mile behind us. We stopped and braced 
ourselves against our wagons to keep them 
from being overturned. Had it struck us it 
doubtless would have demolished us. 

Above the junction of the forks of the Platte 
we continued to pass notable natural forma- 
tions — first O'Fallon's Bluffs, then Court 
House Rocks, a group of fantastic shapes to 
which some ofour party started to go. Afterthey 
had gone what seemed fifteen or twenty miles 
the huge pile looked just as far off as when they 
started, and so they turned and came back — 
so deceptive are distances in the clear atmos- 
phere of the Rocky Mountains. A noted land- 
mark on the North Fork, \\ hich we sighted fifty 
miles away, w as Chimney Rock. It was then 
nearly square, and I think it must have been 
fifty feet higher than now, though after we 
passed it a portion of it fell off". Scott's Bluffs 
are known to emigrants for their picturesque- 
ness. These formations, like those first men- 
tioned, are composed of indurated yellow clay 
or soft sand rock; they are washed and broken 








■'"'^\fi 



.'■/: 



-•>^'^ 



--■^JSsk^A 



o'fALLOn's 13LUKFS FKOM NEAR THE JUNCTION OF THE FORK'S OF THE PLAITE. 



TirF FIRST E.]f/G/iANT TRAIX TO CALIFORNIA. 



119 



into all sorts of fantastic forms by the rains and 
storms of acjes, and Iin\e the apj^earance of an 
immense city of towers and castles. They are 
quite difficLilt to explore, as I learned by ex- 
perience in an effort to jiursue and kill mountain 
sheep or bighorn. These were seen in great 
numbers, but we failed to kill any, as they in- 



Mountains to whom they might sell it. This 
was a surprise to many of us, as there had been 
no drinking on the way. John (iray was sent 
ahead to see if he could find a trapping party, 
and he was instructed, if successtul, to have 
them come to a certain place on drecn River. 
He struck a trail, and overtook a party on 





N 




! V "" .^;» vV.- 











lORT LARAMIi: IN lb4y. 



habit places almcst inaccessible and are ex- 
ceedingly wild. 

As we ascended the Platte buftaloes became 
scarcer, and on the Sweetwater none were to 
be seen. Now appeared in the distance to the 
north of west, gleaming under its mantle of 
perpetual snow, that lofty range known as the 
Wind River Mountains. It was the first time 
I had seen snow in summer; some of the 
peaks were very precipitous, and the view 
was altogether most impressive. Guided 
by Fitzpatrick, we crossed the Rockies at 
or near the South Pass, where the mountains 
were ai)parently low. Some years before a 
man named William Subletts, an Indian fur 
trader, went to the Rocky Mountains with 
goods in wagons, and tho.se were the onl\- 
wagons that had ever been there before us ; 
sometimes we came across the tracks, but 
generally they were obliterated, and thus were 
of no service. Approaching Green River 
in the Rocky Mountains, it was found that 
some of the wagons, including Captain Par- 
tleson's, had alcohol on board, and that the 
owners wanted to find trappers in the Rocky 



their way to the buftalo region to lay in i)ro- 
visions, /. c, bulialo meat, and they returned, 
and came and camped on Green River verv 
soon after our arrival, buying the greater part, 
if not all, of the alcohol, it first having been 
diluted so as to make what they called whisky — 
three or four gallons of water to a gallon of alco- 
hol. Years afterwards we heard of the fate of 
that party : they were attacked by Indians the 
very first night after they left us and several of 
them killed, including the captain of the trap- 
I)ing part}', whose name was Frapp. The 
whisky was probably the cause. 

Several years ago when I was going down 
Weber Cafion, approaching Salt Lake, swiftly 
borne along on an observation car amid cliffs 
and over rushing streams, something .said that 
night at the camp-fire on Green River was 
forcibly recalled to mind. We had in our 
party an illiterate fellow named Pill Overton, 
who in the evening at one of the camp-fires 
loudly declared that nothing in his life had 
ever surprised him. Of course that raised a 
dispute, " Never suqirised in your life ? " 
" No, I never was surprised." And, moreover, 



I20 



THE FIRST EMIGRANT TRAIN TO CALIFORNIA. 



he swore that nothing ever could surprise him. 
" I should not be surprised," said he, " if I 
were to see a steamboat come plowing over 
these mountains this minute." In rattling down 
the canon of Weber River it occurred to me 
that the reality was almost equal to Bill Over- 
ton's extravaganza, and I could but wonder 
what he would have said had he suddenly 
come upon this modern scene. 

As I have said, at Soda Springs — at the 
northernmost bend of Bear River — our party 
separated. It was a bright and lovely place. 
The abundance of soda water, including the in- 
termittent gushing so-called Steamboat Spring; 
the beautiful fir and cedar covered hills ; the 
huge piles of red or brown sinter, the result of 
fountains once active but then dry — all these, 
together with the river, lent a charm to its wild 
beauty and made the spot a notable one. Here 
the missionary party were to turn north and go 
into the Flathead nation. Fort Hall, about 
forty miles distant on Snake River, lay on their 
route. There was no road ; but something like 
a trail, doubtless used by the trappers, led in 
that direction. From Fort Hall there was also 
a trail down Snake River, by which trapping 
parties reached the Columbia River and Fort 
Vancouver, the headquarters of the Hudson 
Bay Company. 

Our party, originally sixty-nine, including 
women and children, had become lessened to 
sixty-four in number. One had accidentally 
shot and killed himself at the forks of the 
Platte. Another of our party, named Simp- 
son, had left us at Fort Laramie. Three had 
turned back from Green River, intending 
to make their way to Fort Bridger and await 
an opportunity to return home. Their names 
were Peyton, Rodgers, and Amos E. Frye. 
Thirty-two of ourparty, becoming discouraged, 
decided not to venture without path or guide 
into the unknown and trackless region towards 
California, but concluded to go with the mis- 
sionary party to Fort Hall and thence find their 
way down Snake and Columbia rivers into 
Oregon,! The rest of us — also thirty-two in 
number, including Benjamin Kelsey, his wife 
and little daughter — remained firm, refusing 
to be diverted from our original purpose of 
going direct to Cahfornia. After getting all the 
information we could from Captain Fitzpatrick, 
we regretfully bade good-by to our fellow emi- 
grants and to Father De Smet and his party. 

We were now thrown entirely upon our own 
resources. All the country beyond was to us 



a veritable terra incognita, and we only knew 
that California lay to the west. Captain Fitz- 
patrick was not much better informed, but he 
had heard that parties had penetrated the 
country to the southwest and west of Salt Lake 
to trap for beaver ; and by his advice four of 
our men went with the parties to Fort Hall to 
consult Captain Grant, who was in charge there, 
and to gain information. Meanwhile our de- 
pleted party slowly made its way down the west 
side of Bear River. 

Our separation at Soda Springs recalls an 
incident. The days were usually very hot, 
the nights almost freezing. The first day our 
little company went only about ten miles and 
camped on Bear River. In company with 
a man named James John — always called 
" Jimmy John " — I wandered a mile or 
two down the river fishing. Seeing snow on 
a high mountain to the west we longed to 
reach it, for the heat where we were was in- 
tense. So, without losing time to get our guns 
or coats or to give notice at the camp, we 
started direct for the snow, with the impres- 
sion that we could go and return by sun- 
down. But there intervened a range of lower 
mountains, a certain peak of which seemed al- 
most to touch the snow. Both of us were fleet 
of foot and made haste, but we only gained the 
summit of the peak about sundown. The dis- 
tance must have been twelve or fifteen miles. A 
valley intervened, and the snow lay on a higher 
mountain beyond. I proposed to camp. But 
Jimmy gave me a disdainful look, as much 
as to say, " You are afraid to go," and 
(juickened his gait into a run down the moun- 
tain towards the snow. I called to him to stop, 
but he would not even look back. A firm 
resolve seized me — to overtake him, but not 
again to ask him to return. We crossed the 
valley in the night, saw many Indian camp- 
fires, and gained a sharp ridge leading up to 
the snow. This was first brushy and then rough 
and rocky. The brush had no paths except 
those made by wild animals ; the rocks were 
sharp, and soon cut through our moccasins and 
made our feet bleed. But up and up we went 
until long after midnight, and until a cloud cov- 
ered the mountain. We were above the tim- 
ber line, excepting a few stunted fir trees, under 
one of which we crawled to wait for day, for 
it was too dark to see. Day soon dawned, but 
we were almost frozen. Our fir-tree nest had 
been the lair of grizzly bears that had wallowed 
there and shed quantities of shaggy hair. The 



1 Of tlie party leaving us at Soda Springs to go 
into Oregon 1 can now, after the lapse of forty-nine 
years, recall by their names- only the following: Mr. 
Williams and wife ; Samuel Kelsey, his wife and five 
children; Josiah Kelsey and wife ; C. W. Plugge; Mr. 
Carroll ; Mr. Fowler ; a Methodist Episcopal preacher, 



whose name I think was also Williams ; " Cheyenne 
Dawson " ; and another called " Bear Dawson." Sub- 
sequently we heard that the party safely arrived in 
Oregon, and some of them we saw in California. One 
(C. W. Flugge) was in time to join a party and come 
from Oregon to California the same year (1841). 



THE FIRST EMIGRANT TRAIN TO CAIIFORNIA. 



12 r 




THE 



snow was still beyond, and we had lost both 
sight and direction. But in an hour or two we 
reached it. It was nearly as hard as ice. Filling a 
large handkerchief, without taking time to admire 
the scenery we started towards the camp by 
a new route, for our feet were too sore to go 
by way of the rocky ridge by which we had 
come. But the new way led into trouble. 
There were thickets so dense as to exclude 
the sun, and roaring httle streams in deep, 
dark chasms; we had to crawl through 
paths which looked untrodden except by 
grizzlies ; in one place a large bear had passed 
evidently only a few minutes before, cross- 
ing the deep gorge, plunging through 
the wild, dashing water, and wetting 
the steep bank as he went up. We 
carried our drawn butcher knives in 
our hands, for they were our only 
weapons. At last we emerged into 
the valley. Apparently numerous 
Indians had left that very morning, 
as shown by the tracks of lodge- 
poles drawn on the ground. Making 
haste, we soon gained the hills, and 
at about 2 p. m. sighted our wagons, 
already two or three miles on the 
march. When our friends saw us they 
stopped, and all who could ran to 
welcome us. They had given us up 
for lost, supposing that we had been 
killed by tlie hostile Blackfeet, who, 
as Captain Fitzpatrick had 
warned us, sometimes roamed 
through that region. The com- 
pany had barricaded the camp 
at night as best they could, and 
ever}- man had spent a sleepless ■• 
night on guard. Next morning 
they passed several hours in 
scouring the country. Their first 
questions were : '• Where have 
you been?" "Where have you 
been?" I was able to answer 
triumphantly, "//? have Ixrn up 
to the siicni' ! " and to demon- 
strate the fact by showing all the 
Vol. XLI.— 17. 






■^ 





^yft 



••w-:^ Jk 









■'*•*.* r" "'-- 



fls: 



I. THH I'LATTE CASON. S. BRIDGEK S FllKO. ■». TIIK UAD LANDS OF 

THE 01. 1) TRAIL NEAR DOUGLAS (NO VKGETATION). 4. ON 

THE OLD CALIFORNIA TRAIL OVER THE LA i'K^LE 

(BRANCH OF THE PLATTE). 



122 



THE FIRST EMIGRANT TRAIN TO CAIIFORNIA. 




THE GRIZZLY (URSUS HORRIBILIS). (FROM AN ORIGINAL PAINTING BV THE LATE CHARLES NAHL. ) 



snow I had left, which was now reduced to a ball 
about the size of my fist. 

In about ten days our four men returned 
from Fort Hall, during which time we had 
advanced something over one hundred miles 
towards Salt Lake. They brought the informa- 
tion that we must strike out west of Salt Lake, 
— as it was even then called by the trappers, — 
being careful not to go too far south, lest we 
should get into a waterless country without 
grass. They also said we must be careful not 
to go too far north, lest we should get into a 
broken country and steep caiions, and wander 
about, as trapping parties had been known to 
do, and become bewildered and perish. 

September had come before we reached Salt 
Lake, which we struck at its northern extrem- 
ity. Part of the time we had purposely trav- 
eled slowly to enable the men from Fort Hall 
the sooner to overtake us. But unavoidable 
delays were frequent : daily, often hourly, the 
road had to be made passable for our wagons 
by digging down steep banks, filling gulches, 
etc. Indian fires obscured mountains and val- 
leys in a dense, smoky atmosphere, so that we 
could not see any considerable distance in order 
to avoid obstacles. The principal growth, on 
plain and hill alike, was the interminable sage- 
brush [Ariei/iisia), and often it was difficult, for 



miles at a time, to break a road through it, 
and sometimes a lightly laden Avagon would 
be overturned. Its monotonous dull color and 
scraggy appearance gave a most dreary aspect 
to the landscape. But it was not wholly use- 
less: where large enough it made excellent 
fuel, and it was the home and shelter of the 
hare — generally known as the "jack rabbit " 
— and of the sage-hen. Trees were almost a 
sure sign of water in that region. But the mi- 
rage was most deceptive, magnifying stunted 
sage-brush on diminutive hillocks into trees and 
groves. Thus misled, we traveled all day with- 
out water, and at midnight found ourselves in 
a plain, level as a floor, incrusted with salt, and 
as white as snow. Crusts of salt broken up by 
our wagons, and driven by the chilly night 
wind like ice on the surface of a frozen pond, 
was to me a most striking counterfeit of a win- 
ter scene. This plain became softer and softer 
until our poor, almost famished, animals could 
not pull our wagons. In fact, we were going 
direct to Salt Lake and did not know it. So, 
in search of water, we turned from a southerly 
to an easterly course, and went about ten miles, 
and soon after daylight arrived at Bear River. 
So near to Salt Lake were we that the water 
in the river was too salt for us or our animals 
to use, but we had to use it; it would not 



THE FIRST /':.\r/GA\t\T TRAIN TO CAIJI-ORXIA. 



23 



(jucnch thirst, but it did save lifr. 'I'he grass 
looked most luxuriant, and sparkled as if cov- 
ered with frost. Hut it was salt ; our hungry, 
jaded animals refuseil to eat it, and we had 
to lie by a whole tlay to rest them before we 
could travel. 

Leaving this camp and bearing northwest we 
crossed our tracks on the salt plain, having tiuis 
drscribed a triangle of several miles in dimen- 
sions. One of the most serious of our troubles 
was to fmd water where \vc could camj) at 
night. So soon came another hot day, and 
hanl travel all day and all night without water 1 
From a westerly course we turned directly 
north, and, guided by antelope trails, came 
in a few miles to an abundance of grass and 
good water. The condition of our animals 
compelled us to rest here nearly a week. Mean- 
while twoofthemen who had been to Fort Hall 
went ahead to explore. Provisions were becom- 
ing scarce, and we saw that we must avoid 
unnecessary delay. The two men were gone 
about five days. Under their lead we set forth, 
bearing west, then southwest, around Salt Lake, 
then again west. After two or tliree f:ttiguing 
days, — one day and a night without water, — 
the first notice we had of a])])roach to any con- 
siderable mountain was the sight of crags, dimly 
seen through the smoke, manv hundred feet 
above our heads. Here was plenty of good 
grass and water. Nearly all now said, " Let us 



saddles used by the trapping party, and had 
leametl a little about how to make them. Pack- 
ing is an art, and something that only an ex- 
perienced mountaineer can do well so as to 
save his animal and keep his |)a( k from falling 
olV. We were unaccustomed to it, and the difli- 
( ulties we hadatfirst were simply indescribable. 
It is much more difficult to fasten a jiack on 
an ox than on a mule or a horse. The trouble 
began the very fir>t day. Hut we started — 
most of us on foot, for nearly all the animals, 
includingseveral of the oxen, had to carry packs. 
It was but a few minutes before the packs be- 
gan to turn ; horses became scareil, mules 
kicked, oxen jumped and bellowed, and arti- 
cles were scattered in all directions. We took 
more ])ains, fixed things, made a new start, and 
di<l better, tiiough packs continued occasion- 
ally to fall off and delay us. 

Those that had l)etter j)ack-saddles and had 
tieil their loads securely were ahead, while the 
others were obliged to lag behind, because they 
had to repack, and sometimes things would be 
strewn all along the route. The first night I hap- 
pened to be among those that kept pretty well 
back, because the horses out-traveled the oxen, 
'i'he foremost came to a place and stopped where 
there was no water or grass, and built a fire .so 
that we could see it and come up to them. We 
got there about midnight, but some of our oxen 
that had i>acks on had not come up, and among 




"^ mm 




'4v;^j^j>ri 



.-ISferi- 



''*^ 




MONt'MBNT l^}INT, SALT LAKK. 



leave our wagons, othenvise the snows will over- 
take us before we get to California." So we 
stopped one day and tlirew away everything 
we could not carry, made pack-saddles and 
packed theoxen, mules, and horses, and .started. 
On Green River we had seen the style of pack- 



them were my two. So I had to return the 
next morning and find them, Cheyenne Daw- 
son alone volunteering to go with me. One 
man iiad brought along about a (|uart of water, 
which was carefully doled out before we started, 
each receiving a little canister-cover full — less 



124 



THE FIRST EMIGRANT TRAIN TO CALIFORNIA. 




than half a gill ; but as Dawson and I liad to 
go for the oxen, we were given a double por- 
tion. This was all the water I had until the next 
day. It was a burning hot day. '\\'e could 
not find the trail of the oxen for a long time, 
and Dawson refused to go any farther, saying 
that there were plenty of cattle in California ; 
but I had to do it, for the oxen were carrying 
our provisions and other things. Afterwards I 
struck the trail, and found that the oxen instead 
of going west had gone north, and I followed 
them until nearly sundown. They had got into 
a grassy country, which showed that they were 
nearing water. Seeing Indian tracks on their 
trail following them, I felt there was imminent 
danger, and at once examined my gun and 
pistols to see that they were primed and ready. 
But soon I found my oxen lying down in tall 



grassbythesideofthetrail. Seeingno Indians, I 
hastened to fasten the packs and make my way 
to overtake the company. They had promised 
to stop when they came to water and wait for 
me. I traveled all night, and at early dawn 
came to where there was plenty of water and 
where the company had taken their dinner the 
day before, but they had failed to stop forme ac- 
cording to promise. I was much perplexed, be- 
cause I had seen many fires in the night, which 
I took to be Indian fires, so I fastened my 
oxen to a scraggy willow and began to make 
circles around to see which way the company 
had gone. The ground was so hard that the 
animals had made no impression, which be- 
wildered me. Finally, while making a circle 
of about three miles away off to the south, I 
saw two men coming on horseback. In the 



THE FIRST EMIGRANT TRAIN TO CALIFORNIA. 125 

glare of the mirage, which distorted every'thing, hunting party, as there were no l>utitaloes within 
I could not tell whether they were Indians or three or four hundred miles. At this time I had 
white men, but I sui)i)C)se<l them to be Indians, spoken my mind pretty frt-cly concerning Cap- 
feeling sure our parly would go west and not tain i^artleson's lack of judgment, as one could 
south. In a mirage a man on horseback looks scarcely help doing under the circumstances, 
as tall as a tree, and I could only tell by the We now got into a country where there was 
motion that they were mounted. 1 made a bee- no grass nor water, and then we began to cat- 
line to my oxen, to make breastworks of them, echize the men who had gone tc; Fort Hall. 
In doing this I came to a small stream resem- They repeated, "If you go too far south you 
bling running water, into which I urged my will get into a desert country and your animals 
horse, whereupon he went down into a tjuag- will perish ; there will be no water nor grass." 
mire, over head and ears, out of sight. My gun We were evidently too far south. We could 
also went under the mire. I got hold of some- not go west, and the formation of the coun- 
thing on the bank, threw out my gun, which try was such that we had t(j turn and go north 
was full of mud and water, and holding to the across a range of mountains. Having struck 
ropeattached to my horse, by dintofhardiHill- a small stream we camped upon it all night, 
ing I succeeded in getting him out — a sorry and next day continued down its banks, cross- 
sight, his ears and eyes full of mud, and his ing from side to side, most of the time follow- 
body covered with it. At last, just in time, I ing Indian paths or paths made by antelope 
was able to move and get behind the oxen. My and deer. In the afternoon we entered a canon 
gun was in no condition to shoot. However, the walls of which were precijjitous and sev- 
putting dry jjowder in the pan I determined to eral hundred feet high. Finally the pleasant 
do my best in case the supposed Indians should bermy banks gave out entirely, and we could 
come up ; but lo ! they were two of our party travel only in the dry bed of what in the wet 
coming to meet me, bringing water and pro- season was a raging river. It became a solid 
visions. It was a great relief. I felt indignant mass of stones and huge boulders, and the ani- 
that the party had not stopped for me — not mals became tender-footed and sore so that 
the less so when I learned that Captain Bar- they could hardly stand uj), and as we con- 
tleson had said, when they started back to find tinued the way became worse and worse. There 
me, that they " would be in better business to was no place for us to lie down and sleep, nor 
go ahead and look for a road." He had not could ouranimals lie down; the water had given 
forgotten certain comments of mine on his out, and the prospect was indeed gloomy — 
(}ualities as a student of Indian character. An the canon had been leading us directly north, 
instance of this I will relate. All agreed that the animals were too jaded and 
One morning, just as we were packing up, worn to go back. Then we called the men : 
a party of about ninety Indians, on horse- " What did they tell you at Fort Hall about 
back, a regular war party, were descried com- the northern region ? " They repeated, " You 
ing up. Some of us begged the captain to send must not go too fiir north ; if you do you will 
men out to prevent them from coming to us get into difficult canons that leatl towards the 
while we were in the confusion of packing. Columbia River, where you may become be- 
But he said. " Boys, you must not show any wildered and wander about and perish." This 
sign of hostility ; if you go out there with guns canon was going nearly north ; in tact it seemed 
the Indians will think us hostile, and may get a little east of north. We sent some men to 
mad and hurt us." However, five or six of us see if they could reach the top of the moun- 
took our guns and went out, and by signs tain by scaling the i)recipice somewhere and 
made them halt. They did not prove to be get a view, and they came back about ten or 
hostile, but they had carbines, and if we had eleven o'clock, saying the country looked bet- 
been careless and had let them come near ter three or four miles farther ahead. So we 
theymight, and jjrobably would. have killed us. were encouraged. Fven the animals seemed 
At last we got packed up and started, and the to take courage, and we got along much bet- 
Indians traveled along three or four hundred ter than had been thought possible, anil by one 
yards one side or the other of us or behind o'clock that day came out on what is now known 
us all day. They ajipeared anxious to trade, and as the Humboldt River. It was not until four 
offered a buckskin, well dressed, worth two or years later (1845) that (leneral Fremont first 
threedollars,for three or fourchargesof powder saw this river and name<l it Humboldt, 
and three or four balls. This showeil that they Uurcourse wasfirsl westwartland thensouth- 
were in want of ammunition. The carbines ward, following this river for many days, till we 
indicated that they had had communication came to its Sink, near which we saw a solitar)' 
with some trading-post belonging to the Hud- horse, an indication that trajtpers had some- 
son's Bay Comjjany. They hail buflalo-robes time been in that vicinity. \Ve tried to catch 
also, which showed that they were a roving him but failed; he had been there long enough 



126 



THE FIRST EMIGRANT TRAIN TO CALIFORNIA. 



to become very wild. We saw many Indians 
on the Humboldt, especially towards the Sink. 
There were many tule marshes. The tule is a 
rush, large, but here not very tall. It was gen- 
erally completely covered with honeydew, and 
this in turn was wholly covered with a pedicu- 
lous-looking insect which fed upon it. The 
Indians gathered quantities of the honey and 
pressed it into balls about the size of one's 
fist, having the appearance of wet bran. At 
first we greatly relished this Indian food, but 




when we saw what it was made of — that the 
insects pressed into the mass were the main in- 
gredient — we lost our appetites and bought 
no more of it. 

From the time we left our wagons many 
had to walk, and more and more as we ad- 
vanced. Going down the Humboldt at least 
half were on foot. Provisions had given out ; 
except a little coarse green grass among the 
willows along the river the country was dry, 
bare, and desolate; we saw no game except 
antelope, and they were scarce and hard to 
kill ; and walking was very fatiguing. Tobacco 
lovers would surrender their animals for anyone 
to ride who would furnish them with an ounce 
or two to chew during the day. One day one 
of these devotees lost his tobacco and went 
back for it, but failed to find it. An Indian in a 
friendly manner overtook us, bringing the piece 
of tobacco, which he had found on our trail 
or at our latest camp, and surrendered it. The 
owner, instead of being thankful, accused the 
Indian of having stolen it — an impossibility, 
as we had seen no Indians or Indian signs for 
some days. Perhaps the Indian did not know 
what it was, else he might have kept it for 
smoking. But I think otherwise, for, patting 
his breast, he said, " Shoshone, Shoshone," 
which Avas the Indian way of showing he 
was friendly. The Shoshones were known 
as always friendly to the whites, and it is not 
difficult to see how other and distant tribes 
might claim to be Shoshones as a passport 
to favor. 

On the Humboldt we had a further division 
of our ranks. In going down the river we 
went sometimes on one side and sometimes 
on the other, but mostly on the north side, till 
we were nearing what are now known as the 
Humboldt Mountains. We were getting tired, 
and some were in favor of leaving the oxen, 
of which we then had only about seven or 
eight, and rushing on into California. They 
said there was plenty of beef in California. 
But some of us said : " No ; our oxen are now 
our only supply of food. We are doing well. 



THE HUMBOLDT PALISADES. — THE HUMBOLDT SINK. 



THE FIRST EM/GRANT TRAfN TO CALIFORNIA. 



127 







TROCKEE MEADOWS. 



making eighteen or twenty miles a day." One 
morning when it was mv turn at driving the 
oxen, the captain traveled so fast that I could 
not keep up, and was left far behind. When 
night came I had to leave the trail and go over 
a rocky declivity for a mile and a half into 
a gloomy, damp bottom, and unpack the oxen 
and turn them out to eat, sleeping myself with- 
out blankets. I got u]i the next morning, hunted 
the oxen out of tlie willow thicket, and repacked 
them. Not having had supper or breakfast, 
and having to travel nine miles before I over- 
took the party, j^erhaps I was not in the best 
humor. They were waiting, and for the very 
good reason that they could have nothing to eat 
till I came up with the oxen and one could be 
killed. I felt badly treated, and let the captain 
know it plainly ; but, much to my surprise, he 
made no reply, and none of his men said a 
word. We killed an ox, ate our breakfast, and 
got ready to start about one or two o'clock in 
the afternoon. When nearly ready to go, the 
captain and one or two of his mess came to 
us and said : " Boys, our animals are better 
than yours, and we always get out of meat be- 
fore any of the rest of you. Let us have the 
most of the meat this time, and we will pay 
you back the next ox we kill." We gladly let 
them have all they wished. But as soon as 
they had taken it, and were mounted ready to 
start, the captain in a loud voice exclaimed: 
" Now we have been found fault with long 
enough, and we are going to California. If 
you can keep up with us, all right ; if you can- 
not, you may go to "; and away they 

started, the captain and eight men. One of 
the men wouhl not go with the cai)tain ; he 
said, "The captain is wrong, and I will stay 
with you, boys." 

In a short time they were out of .sight. We 
followed their trail for two or three days, but 
after they had crossed over to the south side 
of the Humboldt and turned south we came 
into a sandy waste where the wind had en- 
tirely obliteraleil their tracks. We were then 
thrown entirely upon our own resources. It 
was our desire to make as great speed as 



possible westward, deviating only when ob- 
stacles interposed, and in .such case bearing 
south in.stead of north, so as to be found in a 
lower latitude in the event that winter .should 
overtake us in the mountains. But, diverted by 
following our fugitive cajitain and parly across 
the Humboldt, we thereby missed the luxuri- 
ant Truckee meadows lying but a short distance 
to the west, a resting-place well and favorably 
known to later emigrants. So, perforce, we 
followed down to the Sink of the Humboldt 
and were obliged to drink its water, which in 
the fall of the year becomes stagnant and of 
the color of lye, and not fit to drink or use unless 
boiled. Here we camped. Leaving the Sink of 
the Humboldt, we crossed a considerable stream 
which must have been Carson River.and came 
to another stream which must have been Walker 
River, and followed it up to where it came 
out of the mountains, which proved to be the 
Sierra Nevada. A\'e did not know the name of 
the mountains. Neither had these rivers then 
been named ; nor had they been seen by Kit 
Car.son or Joe Walker, for whom they were 
named, nor were they seen until 1845 by Fre- 
mont, who named them. 

We were now camped on Walker River, at 
the very eastern base of the Sierra Nevada, 
and had only two oxen left. We sent men 
ahead to see if it would be possible to scale 
the mountains, while we killed the better of 
the two oxen anil ilried the meat in prepara- 
tion for the ascent. The men returned to- 
wards evening and reported that they thought 
it would be possible to ascend the mountains, 
though very difficult. We had eaten our supper, 
and were ready for the climb in the morning. 
Looking back on the plains we saw something 
coming, which we decided to be Indians. 
They traveletl very slowly, and it was difficult 
to understand their movements. To make a 
long story short, it was the eight men that had 
left us nine days before, 'i'hey had gone farther 
south than we and had come to a lake, probably 
Carson Lake, and there had found Indians who 
supplied them plentifully with fish and pine 
nuts. Fish caught in such water are not fit to 



128 



THE FIRST EMIGRANT TRAIN TO CAIIFORNIA. 



eat at any time, much less in the fall of the 
year. The men had all eaten heartily of fish 
and pine nuts, and had got something akin 
to cholera morbus. We were glad to see 
them although they had deserted us. We ran 
out to meet them and shook hands, and put 



sible to get through down the smaller canon. 
I was one of them, Jimmy John the other. Ben- 
jamin Kelsey, who had shown himself expert 
in finding the way, was now, without any elec- 
tion, still recognized as leader, as he had been 
during the absence of Bartleson. A party 




"7^/ 
,'*•> 
^■^ 












ABANDONED. 



our frying-pans on and gave them the best 
supper we could. Captain Bartleson, who 
when we started from Missouri was a portly 
man, was reduced to half his former girth. 
He said : " Boys, if ever I get back to Mis- 
souri I will never leave that country. I 
would gladly eat out of the troughs with my 
dogs." He seemed to be heartily sick of his 
late experience, but that did not prevent him 
from leaving us twice after that. 

We were now in what is at present Nevada, 
and probably within forty miles of the present 
boundary of California. We ascended the 
mountains on the north side of Walker River 
to the summit, and then struck a stream running 
west which proved to be the extreme source 
of the Stanislaus River. We followed it down 
for several days and finally came to where a 
branch ran into it, each forming a canon. The 
main river flowed in a precipitous gorge in places 
apparently a mile deep, and the gorge that 
came into it was but little less formidable. At 
night we found ourselves on the extreme point 
of the promontory between the two, very tired, 
and with neither grass nor water. We had to 
stay there that night. Early the next morning 
two men went down to see if it would be pos- 



also went back to see how far we should have 
to go around before we could pass over the 
tributary canon. The understanding was, that 
when we went down the canon if it was practi- 
cable to get through we were to fire a gun 
so that all could follow ; but if not, we were 
not to fire, even if we saw game. When Jimmy 
and I got down about three-quarters of a mile 
I came to the conclusion that it was impossi- 
ble to get through, and said to him, "Jimmy, we 
might as well go back; we can't go here." 
" Yes, we can," said he ; and insisting that we 
could, he pulled out a pistol and fired. It was 
an old dragoon pistol, and reverberated like a 
cannon. I hurried back to tell the company not 
to come down, but before I reached them the 
captain and his party had started. I explained, 
and warned them that they could not get down ; 
but they went on as far as they could go, and then 
were obliged to stay all day and night to rest the 
animals, and had to go about among the rocks 
and pick a little grass for them, and go down to 
the stream through a terrible place in the canon 
to bring water up in cups and camp-kettles, 
and some of the men in their boots, to pour 
down the animals' throats in order to keep 
them from perishing. Finally, four of them 



THE FIRST EM/GRANT TRAIN TO CALIFORNIA. 



129 



])ullingand four of them pushing a mule, they 
managed to get them up one hy one, and then 
carrieil all the things uj) again on their backs — 
not an easy job for exhausted men. 

In some way, nobody knows how, Jimmy 
got through that canon and into the Sacra- 
mento Valley. He had a horse with him — 
an Indian horse that was bought in the Rocky 
Mountains, and which could come as near 
climbing a tree as any horse I ever knew, 
jmimy was a character. Of all men 1 have 
ever known I think he was the most fearless; 
he had the bravery of a bulldog. He was not 
seen for two months — until he was found at 
Sutter's, afterwards known as Sutter's Fort, 
now Sacramento City. 

We went on, traveling west as near as 
we could. When we killed our last ox we 
shot and ate crows or anything we could kill, 
and one man shot a wild-cat. We could eat 
anything. One day in the morning I went 
ahead, on foot of course, to see if I could kill 
something, it being understood that the com- 
pany would keep on as near west as possible 
and find a practicable road. I followed an In- 
dian trail down into the canon, meeting many 
Indians on the way up. They did not molest 
me, but I did not quite like their looks. 
1 went about ten miles down the canon, and 
then began to think it time to strike north 
to intersect the trail of the company going 
west. A most difficult time I had scaling 
the i)recij)ice. Once I threw my gun up ahead 
of me, being unable to hold it and climb, and 
then was in despair lest I could not get up 
where it was, but finally I did barely manage to 
do so, and made my way north. As the dark- 
ness came on 1 was obliged to look down and 
feel with my feet lest I should pass over the 
trail of the party without seeing it. Just at 
dark I came to an enormous fallen tree and 
tried to go around the top, but the place was 
too brushy, so I went around the butt, which 
seemed to me to be about twenty or twenty- 
five feet above my head. This I suppose to 
have been one of the fallen trees in the Cala- 
veras (irove of Sc(]uoia i^ii^antta or mammoth 
trees, as I have since been there, and to my own 
satisfaction identified the lay of the land and 
the tree. Hence I concluded that I must have 
been the first white man who ever saw the .SV- 
quoia i^ii^anlai, of which 1 told Kremont when 
he came to California in 1844. Of course sleep 
was impossible, for I had neither blanket nor 
coat, and burned or froze alternately as I turned 
from one side to the other before the small fire 
which I had built, until morning, when I started 
eastward to intersect the trail, thinking the 
company had turned north. But I traveled until 
noon and found no trail ; then striking south, I 
came to the camp which I had left the previous 
Vou .\LI.— iS. 



morning. The party had gone, but not where 
they had said they would go; for they had 
taken the same trail I had followed, into the 
canon, and had gone up the south side, which 
they had found so steep that many of the poor 
animals could not climb it and had to be left. 
When I arrived the Indians were there cut- 
ting the horses to pieces and carrying ort' the 
meat. My situation, alone among strange 
Indians killing our pf)or horses, was by no 
means comfortable. Afterward we found that 
these Indians were always at war with the 
Californians. They were known as the Horse 
Thief Indians, and lived chiefly on h(;rse tlesh ; 
they had been in the habit of raiding the 
ranches even to the very coast, driving away 
horses by the hundreds into the mountains to 
eat. That night after dark I overtook the party 
in camp. 

A day or two later we came to a place where 
there was a great ciuantity of horse bones, and 
we did not know what it meant; we thought 
that an army must have perished there. They 
were of course horses that the Indians had 
driven in there and slaughtered. A few nights 
later, fearing depredations, we concluded to 
stand guard — all but one man, who would not. 
So we let his two horses roam where they 
pleased. In the morning they could not be 
found. A few miles away we came to a vil- 
lage; the Indians had lied, but we found the 
horses killed and some of the meat roasting 
on a fire. 

\Ve were now on the edge of the San Joa- 
quin Valley, but we did not even know that 
we were in California. We could see a range 
of mountains lying to the west, — the Coast 
Range, — but we could see no valley. The 
evening of the day we started down into the 
valley we were very tired, and when night came 
our party was strung along for three or four 
miles, and every man slept right where dark- 
ness overtook him. He would take oft" his 
saddle for a pillow anil turn his horse or mule 
loose, if he had one. His animal would be loo 
poor to walk away, and in the morning he 
would find him, usually within fifty feet. The 
jadeil horses nearly perished with hunger ami 
fatigue. When we overtook the foremost of the 
[jarty the next morning we found they had come 
to a pond of water, and one of them had killeii 
a fat coyote ; when I came uj) it was all eaten 
e.xcept the lights and the windi)ipe, on which 
1 matle my breakfast. From that camp we saw 
timber to the north of us, evidently bordering 
a stream running west. It turned out to be the 
stream that we had followed down in the moun- 
tains — the Stanislaus River. As soon as we 
came in sight of the bottom land of the stream 
we saw an abundance of antelopes and sandhill 
cranes. We killed two of each the first evening. 



I30 



CA LIFORNTANA. 



Wild grapes also abounded. The next day we 
killed thirteen deer and antelopes, jerked the 
meat and got ready to go on, all except the 
captain's mess of seven or eight, who decided to 
stay there and lay in meat enough to last them 
into California! We were really almost down to 
tidewater, but did not know it. Some thought 
it was five hundred miles yet to California. 
But all thought we had to cross at least that 
range of mountains in sight to the west before 
entering the promised land, and how many 
more beyond no one could tell. Nearly all 
thought it best to press on lest the snows might 
overtake us in the mountains before us, as they 
had already nearly done on the mountains be- 
hind us (the Sierra Nevada). It was now about 
the first of November. Our party set forth 
bearing northwest, aiming for a seeming gap 
north of a high mountain in the chain to the 
west of us. That mountain we found to be 
Mount Diablo. At night the Indians attacked 
the captain's camp and stole all their animals, 
which were the best in the company, and the 
next day the men had to overtake us with just 
Avliat they could carry in their hands. 

The next day, judging by the timber we saw, 
we concluded there was a river to the west. 
So two men went ahead to see if they could 



find a trail or a crossing. The timber seen proved 
to be along what is now known as the San Joa- 
quin River. We sent two men on ahead to spy 
out the country. At night one of them returned, 
saying they had come across an Indian on 
horseback without a saddle who wore a cloth 
jacket but no other clothing. From what they 
could understand the Indian knew Dr. Marsh 
and had offered to guide them to his place. 
He plainly said " Marsh," and of course we 
supposed it was the Dr. Marsh before referred 
to who had written the letter to a friend in 
Jackson County, Missouri, and so it proved. 
One man went with the Indian to Marsh's 
ranch and the other came back to tell us what 
he had done, with the suggestion that we 
should go on and cross the river (San Joaquin) 
at the place to which the trail was leading. 
In that way we found ourselves two days later 
at Dr. Marsh's ranch, and there we learned that 
we were really in California and our journey 
at an end. After six months we had now ar- 
rived at the first setdement in California, No- 
vember 4, 1 84 1. 

The account of our reception, and of my 
own experiences in California in the pastoral 
period before the gold discovery, I must re- 
serve for another paper. 

John Bidwell. 



CALIFORNIANA. 



Grizzly and Pioneer. 



A GREAT many persons have told stories about griz- 
zlies and about pioneers. But there is an aspect 
in which the grizzly and the pioneer may be said to rep- 
resent the beginnings of a chapter of national folk- 
lore, or the first halting steps towards the development 
of a noble myth. 

I remember that an old silver-freighter who walked 
all day long for many successive weeks across the Ne- 
vada desert, beside his high ore wagon, once said to 
me : " I had a curious notion lately. I thought that, 
perhaps, when the American frontiersman had been 
dead a hundred thousand years, the stories that would 
be written and believed about him would be like those 
of the demigods." My old silver-freighter was well 
educated, and knew his mythology better than I did. 
He had full faith, too, in the permanence of the myth- 
making spirit. " Some fellow, I don't know who," he 
said, "has got to stand right out to represent all this 
pioneering that hundreds of us have been doing for 
generations. It may be a fellow with buckskins and a 
Kentucky rifle, or it maybe a fellow with a slouch hat 
and a mule-whip. We can't any of us tell yet awhile." 
Ten years later the railroad reached the camp; he 
bought a small California farm and settled down, as 
miners, prospectors, stage-drivers, and frontiersmen 
of every class are doing all the time. 

I have often meditated upon the idea which the old 
teamster of the desert had evolved, in his crude way, 



feeling, far better than he could express it, the influence 
of the fast-passing epoch. As I consider the subject, 
two things, the grizzly and the California pioneer, 
seem on the way to take such form as to outlast 
railroads and cities. In a lesser sense they already 
belong together in literature, but perhaps they are 
slowly and surely assuming places side by side, or at 
least in the same group, in a new myth of the Ameri- 
can continent. In the course of time — in five cen- 
turies, or twenty centuries — it may be that two giant 
shadows of the past, the Argonaut and his grizzly, will 
loom up over the Sierras, as Hercules and his Nemean 
lion in the legends of the Greeks. 

No man is ever able to say of those things which lie 
within the present reality : " This is to perish ; that is 
to broaden and grow, striking roots into universal na- 
ture until all men bear witness to its immortality." 
Nevertheless, when the last grizzly has perished, when 
the old race of miners is as far lost in traditions as the first 
Cornishman who picked up stream-tin, or the first iron- 
smelters of the Andreaswald who fought the Saxon 
invaders, when the great Californian valleys and all the 
shining slopes of the long, parallel mountain ranges 
beside the Pacific are clothed with continuous gardens 
and orchards, and mighty and populous cities grow from 
the villages of to-day, there ought to be a background 
of sublime fable to inspire poet, artist, and sculptor. 

It is the first step towards a myth that always proves 
the most difficult. Already, the world over, men have 
come to know the old canon-keeper and forest-dweller 



CAUFORNIANA. 131 

as "the grizzly," not the griz/ly bear. He has become South assumes much tlic same place. But the grizzly 
(iilTcrentialcd, and is on the way to still further scpa- stands apart, so different in his very nature, and so 
ration from other bears, and other creatures of the high impressive in every aspect, that another long step to- 
order that furnish noble subjects for art. Sometime, wards the creation of a noble and satisfactory myth 
I am sure, an .\merican Thorwaldsen will know how appears to have been taken by the pioneers, the true 
to hew a Sierra grizzly out of some gray cliff of Rock- myth-builders and makers of literature in their log- 
lin granite, and there it will remain while the world cabins, by their winter fires. How long a step has thus 
endures, supreme as the Lion of Lucerne. Some day been gained we shall know better when the grizzly is 
an American liarye will create in bronze a massive gone from the Sierras. Perhaps the folk-lore of the 
grizzly, lord of the land of pines and sequoias, calm American Indians will help the development of the 
and terrible as a Numidian lion. Perhaps in the day myth, but it seems to me that it will be on .Aryan lines, 
of battle, a thousand years hence, in some wild Sierra What figure may fitly stand beside the grizzly, as 
pass, the free men of the mountains, changing the the grizzly will look to men a thousand years hence, 
course of history, and broadening the California myth when mighty bulks of rough-hewn stone set forth his 
to a world myth, will make the .\merican Grizzly for majestic strength in every .American city, and we leave 
all time such a name as the Lion of England, or the dragons, gryphons, and phenixes to the countries 
ancient Winged Bull of Assyria. where they belong? The grizzly is American to the 

The Pacific Coast, a land larger in extent, more backbone, and his qualities are appreciated wherever 

varied in soil, climate, and resources, than tlial western he is known. Mis comjianion is to be found, if any- 

third of Europe from Gibraltar to the Arctic Circle, where, in the first American pioneer of the Rockies 

has already adopted the grizzly in its common speech, and Sierras, the Gold .Seeker, brave, rugged, and honest 

Where the oriental sage said of the wise man that he as the grizzly himself. .My old silver-freighter had a 

walked forth " alone, like the rhinoceros," the similar glimpse of the truth. " Some fellow has got to stand 

comparison known to the man of the land between up and represent the whole crowd." The fact of the 

Arizona and -Alaska has been a comparison with the growing grizzly legend helps one's imagination to 

grizzly. A man is said to be " as strong as a grizzly," seize upon the more complex fact of the growing 

or as dreadful when aroused, or as much of a boss, or pioneer legend, which, like the other, needs only time 

"a regular grizzly of a fellow." It is not a light for its fulfilment. 

phrase ; it goes deep down to the roots of the matter ; The Argonaut — let us call him that because he 

it is the last word said. seems to like it best — has even fewer years remaining 

By a thousand camp-fires since the first trappers than the grizzly. Name him as you will, — prospector, 

met grizzlies in the Rockies men have told stories of placer-miner, frontiersman of the Pacific Coast, son 

the mighty creature, and when the last grizzly is gone of four generations of pioneers ; call him Californian 

from the canons the body of literature that will con- or .Arizonian, whichever you choose, — there he stands 

tinue to grow up about him may some day be like the at the end of the road ; and though he spreads out his 

marvelous dragon literature that has sprung from the grasp to Alaska and Mexico, the continent is crossed, 

bones of the pterodactyl. The grizzly in his best es- and he is disappearing, as priest and vaqticro disap- 

tate has not only no equal for strength and dignity in peared before him. 

the " three .Americas," but he rivals the lion and tiger. Strange indeed is the law of the growth of the myth- 
Civilization is claiming his haunts so rapidly that two s]iirit, which works continually among men, but only 
or three generations will see him as extinct as the at long intervals to full achievement. The goddess of 
saber-toothed tiger or the great cave-bear of Europe, myths either seizes upon the first of a type to lift it to 
This early perishing may give the grizzly another ad- the stars, or else she waits until the last of the race 
vantage in his progre>s towards a pL'rmanent place in of heroes goes forth, Sigurd-like, to his death, before 
art and literature. she pours her cup of immortality on his name and 

.Again, the grizzly stories that frontiersmen tell have line. Men hear of Volsung because of his son's son 

all the unc«nscious dignity of their subject ; they rise who rode the Glittering Heath. The goddess may not 

at times to the height of an epic of the Sierras, and choose among the founders of the .Atlantic colonies 

they possess a singular vitality. One must gather with their heroic histories. Perhaps she will not even 

them up from explorers like Lewis and Clarke, Kit take the buckskin-clad Boones and Crocketts, though 

Carson and St. V'rain, from placer-miners' stories of over them her spirit still hangs uncertain. If it may 

'49, from Spanish-Californian missions and stock- not be trappernor hunter, voyageur, guide, nor pioneer 

ranches, and from the lonely .American preirmptors' of the .Atlantic slope, or the Mississippi \alley, what 

cabins in the Siskiyous. One must cast aside the mere is more likely than that the imagination of the mce 

" newspaper yarns " invented by men who never saw will sometime, when the last pioneer is dead, crystallize 

a grizzly. Then one discovers this fundamental fact — the story of the whole westward march into some Si- 

that the grizzly has somehow impressed himself irrev- erra Titan leaning upon his mighty pick, as Thor upon 

(icably upon the imagination of the man of the Pacific his Mjolnir? The hills will be empty of gold; the 

Coast, and this in a way that the black and brown bears waters will have reclaimed the deserts ; new conditions 

h.ive never yet done to any people. In the delightful of life may have come to pass over all the lands from 

German tales Bruin is a good-natured, stupid fellow, Maine to California. But every child will hear the 

whom one cannot but like even while smiling over his stories of old-world dragons and new-world grizzlies; 

adventures. The bear in the negro folk-lore of the of old-world giants and new-world pioneers. 

CluxrUs HiTU'jrJ S/iitnt. 



HOW LONDON IS GOVERNED. 

BY THE AUTHOR OF " GLASGOW : A MUNICIPAL STUDY." 




rETROPOLITAN London, the 
greatest and most enlight- 
ened city this world has ever 
seen, has never had a legal ex- 
istence, a fixed boundary line, 
or a municipal government. 
For limited purposes the metropolis became 
last year an administrative county and ac- 
quired a representative council ; but previous 
to the new local government act, which gives 
all the counties of England elective councils, 
the metropolis had no distinct organization 
or corporate form. London, the ancient City, 
had maintained its old-time bounds and its 
venerable charters ; but its area was only one 
square mile audits resident population was only 
fifty thousand, while " Greater London " had 
attained a population fully a hundred times 
as large, spread over an area of at least five 
hundred square miles. Greater London lay 
in the three counties of Middlesex, Kent, and 
Surrey, with huge suburbs in Essex and en- 
croaching outposts in Hertfordshire. It was 
governed in the most anomalous manner by 
Parliament directly as an interposing provi- 
dence, by the ministers of the Crown, by the 
magistrates of the several counties, by special 
boards and commissions, and by many scores 
of parish vestries and other minor local author- 
ities. The acts of Parliament that affected one 
feature or another of the administration in 
whole or in part of the metropolitan area were 
legion, and were scattered through the statute- 
books of centuries. Truly this great aggrega- 
tion of people and interests had a perplexingly 
intricate organization. But still it was some- 
how governed. Its vast expanding life as one 
social, commercial, and industrial entity found 
its organs. 

How London has been governed in the 
past, how it is governed at present, how it 
is meeting the various social and economic 
problems of modem metropolitan life — these 
are questions eminently worthy of considera- 
tion by all who would study municipal mat- 
ters. For London is the capital not only of 
the British Empire, but in some sense also of 
the whole world. Its experiences are of uni- 
versal interest and importance. In it the new 
forces of urban life are at work in most sig- 
nificant ways. It is slowly but surely evolving 
central municipal institutions that shall meet 
its peculiar needs. Its population is waking 
132 



up with a sense of unity and with an appre- 
ciation of great things to be done through 
united municipal action for the common wel- 
fare. It is only lately that the people of 
advanced industrial nations have learned to 
accept the fact that life in cities under artifi- 
cial conditions must be the permanent lot of 
the great majority, and that it is the business 
of society to adapt the urban environment to 
the needs of the population. Life in the mod- 
ern city should not be an evil or a misfortune 
for any class. There should be such sanitary 
arrangements and administration as to make 
the death rate of the great city smaller than 
that of the nation as a whole. There should 
be such educational facilities as to insure to 
all the young people of a city the most suit- 
able physical, intellectual, and industrial train- 
ing. The masses of people in London are 
rising to some faint perception of these truths, 
and they are beginning to clamor for social 
and governmental reforms. The immediate 
future of London is fraught with magnificent 
possibilities. From the extreme of chaos, dis- 
organization, and uncontrolled freedom of in- 
dividual action, it is not impossible that the 
great metropolis may a generation hence lead 
all the large cities of the world in the close- 
ness and unity of its organization and in the 
range of its municipal activities. Municipal 
sociahsm has a better outlook in London than 
in Paris or Berlin, although as yet London has 
given fewer tangible evidences of this trend 
than has any other center of civiHzation. How- 
ever that may be, the London questions have 
assumed an extraordinary importance in Eng- 
land, and to understand them reasonably well 
it is necessary to review and analyze with some 
care the government of London. 

BRITISH MUNICIPAL REFORM. 

The ever-memorable reform act of 1832, 
which gave representation in Parliament a 
modern and rational basis, was soon followed, 
as a part of the reform program of the day, 
by a general municipal government act which 
abolished the ancient and exclusive privileges 
of the merchants and trades gilds and en- 
larged the municipal corporations to the inclu- 
sion of the whole body of citizens paying a 
certain minimum amount of rates. This act of 
1835 ^s the most signally important piece of 



PIONEER MINING IN CALIIORMA. 




The Earth at the en 1 
(Kepnnted (roiii 



• Punch.") 



;URKKA! We have 
> found it ! The coast 
had many hours been 
anxiously watched 
through glasses to 
discover the 
Golden Gate, 
and there it 
was. Ourlong 
voyage of 
ninety -seven 
days from 
Panama was about over. The old brigantine, 
leaking at every seam, was headed for the 
opening between the rocky headlands, and in 
the bright moonlight, August 4, 1849, she 
slowly made her way, all sails set, into the 
magnificent bay of San Francisco. She rounded 
Clark's Point, and before dawn swung with the 
tide up to the spot occupied by the rear end 
of Montgomery block, between Montgomery 
and Sansome streets, now a half-mile inland 
from the water-front of San P>ancisco, 

It was an exciting hour. We had received 
no news from home since our departure from 
New York on the ist of March, and every- 
body was eager to get ashore for letters and 
papers. Not far away was a little shell of a 
i)uilding, probably sixteen feet square, erected 
on four j)Osts, each resting on a hogshead filled 
with stones and thus stayed in the mud. From 
this a plank ran to terra firma. The sun had not 
risen when we landed from our iron cockle-shell 
and wandered in squads through a straggling 
village, chiefly of tents ; only a few wooden 
houses had yet been built, while three or four 
adobe structures told of Mexican occujjation. 
Sand-dunes were plenty, and when the winds 
came in from the Pacific the dust made lively 
work, and gave us our first lessons in Califomian 
climatology. 

With the morning light the tents gave forth 
their sleepers, and such a motley tenantry! 
And such a stir ! Americans in great variety of 
dress, natives of the islands, with a picturesque 
mingling of Mexicans in wide trousersand short 
jackets with a profusion of small globular but- 
tons, their shock heads thrust through slits in 
their scrapes and topped off with brown, sugar- 
loaf-crowned, broad-brimmed, heavy felt som- 
breros. 

Ship-fare had given us a longing for a fancy 
breakfast. A restaurant-sign attracted me, and 
I went in. The table was a bare plank against 
one of the walls of the tent ; the plates and 



cups were of tin, and the meal consisted of 
fried beef, bread, and black coflee. The bill 
was three dollars. 

Some of the largest tents were devoted to 
gambling on a large scale, though the vice had 
not reached the magnitudeof su( ceeding years, 
when the Kl Dorado gambling-tent jiaid a ren- 
tal of $40,000 a year, and $20,000 were staked 
on the turn of a card. In those early days these 
gambling-tents were the most attractive places 
in the larger towns. They were commodious, 
and were about the only places warmed by 
fires ; they had well-furnished and somewhat 
tasteful bars, where liquors were dispensed at a 
dollar a gla.ss. Tables were distributed along 
the sides, and in rows through the middle, at 
which monte, faro, vingt-et-un, roulette, lans- 
quenet, and I do not know how many other 
games were played. When the whole was ablaze 
with lights of an evening, an occasional woman 
seen assisting at the games, and a band of mu- 
sic or singers giving forth a concourse of sweet 
sounds,crowds surged before the barand around 
the tables, some attracted by the novelty, some 
to get warm, but more to try their luck. 

Our stay in San Francisco was but for a day 
or two. We had come to mine for gold, and 
though the inducements for business in the in- 
cipient city were flattering, even wages com- 
manding eight to ten dollars a day, or a <loIlar 
an hour, we determined to push on to the mines. 
Glowing accounts induced us to try the south- 
em mines, and a passage to Stockton was se- 
cured on an old tub of a schooner at the rate 
of three ounces of gold, or thirty-six dollars, 
per head. The deck was crowded with men 
of ever)' nationality. The rolling hills, tawny, 
and flecked with green trees, bounding the 
bays of San Francisco, Suisun, and San Pablo, 
were novel and interesting. The very color of 
the earth, covered with wild oats or dried gra.ss, 
suggested a land of gold. The sight was in- 
spiriting. Put when we reached the mouth of the 
San Joatjuin our miseries began. This river has 
an extraordinarily tortuous course almost en- 
tirely through tule, or marshlands, that in 1849 
produced bushels of voracious moscjuitoes to 
the acre. 1 had never known the like before. 
It seemed as if there was a stratum of swarm- 
ing insect life ten feet thick over the surface 
of the earth. I corded my trousers tight to 
my boot-legs to keep them from pulling up, 
ilonned a thick coat, though the heat was intol- 
erable, shiekled my neck and face with hand- 
kerchiefs, and put on buckskin gloves, and in 

127 



128 



PIOXEER MINING IN CALIFORNIA. 



that condition parboiled and smothered. In 
spite of all precautions our faces were much 
swollen with the poison of numberless bites. 
To escape the hot sun we took refuge below 
deck, and to drive away the pests a smudge was 
made on some sand in the bottom of the boat, 
which filled the hold almost to sufibcation. The 
mosquitoes were too ravenous to be wholly 
foiled by smoke. I think I never endured such 
vexation and sufiering. Sleep was impossible. 
The boat had to be worked by hand around 
the numerous bends, and half the time the 
sails were useless for want of wind. It was a 
burning calm in the midst of a swamp. But 
even in our distress there was a humorous side, 
provoking grim smiles at least. 

^^'e finally arrived at Stockton, then also a 
\dllage of tents. The newest style of architec- 
ture called for light frames on which canvas 
was tacked for sides and roof. There was no 
need of windows except for air currents, light 
enough coming through the cloth. We were 
impatient to go on to our destination, the Big 
Bar of the Mokelumne River, and soon were 
on the way with pack-mules and horses hired 
for the purpose. Camping on the bank of the 
Calaveras the first night, we were treated to our 
first serenade by coyotes. A peculiarity of this 
small wolf is that he can pipe in any key, fool- 
ing you with the belief that he has twenty com- 
panions, though one little wretch is making 
all the noise. We passed the plain of the San 
Joaquin Valley, with its dark, spreading live- 
oaks, like an old orchard miles in extent, and 
began the ascent of the foothills. Brown and 
red soil made its appearance hot and dusty; 
nut-pines were mingled with oaks and man- 
zanitas, ceanothus, buckeye, and poison oak. 
Wild oats and burr clover still remained in 
patches unfound by the cattle of the plain. 
The air was dr}', but grew more bracing. The 
trail wound among trees, around hills, through 
ravines, and sometimes up steep ascents, but 
at last, on the third day from Stockton, after 
a journey of more than seven thousand miles 
by land and sea, we reached the mines. 

jSIy first impressions were not pleasant. The 
first miner I saw at his work was a rough, 
dirty-looking man in a dry ravine. The banks 
were about as high as his shoulders. A double- 
barreled shot-gun lay on the edge of the bank 
within easy reach. He was picking up dry clay 
and gravel from the bottom of his claim, pul- 
verizing it in his wooden pan with a stone, and 
then shaking it about till the lighter particles 
came to the top and were brushed over the 
rim. The pulverizing and shaking continued 
until a small quantity of dust and gold was 
left in the bottom. The dust was blown out 
with the breath. This process was called " dry 
washing." 



The Big Bar of the Mokelumne lay in the 
gorge six or eight hundred feet below. The 
sight was not at all inspiring, ^^'hat in mining 
parlance are called '"bars" are deposits of sand, 
gravel, clay, and boulders made by rivers, usu- 
ally opposite the angle of a bend. Sometimes 
these are small, and sometimes several acres in 
extent, and vary from a few inches to ten feet 
or more in depth to the bed-rock. Our bar, as 
its name denotes, was a large one, of perhaps 
five or six acres, covered with boulders from 
a few pounds' weight to several tons. A few 
tall pines were scattered over it, and here 
and there were a number of tents. Though 
perhaps a hundred miners were at work, the 
river went merrily on unstained to the sea. 
Down the steep banks of the gorge we went, 
stirring up the red dust and covering ourselves 
with it from head to foot. The animals did 
not like so steep a trail, and would have their 
own way among the timber, loosening the 
packs ; but we made the descent with average 
success. On the bar we found friends that we 
had made in Panama, who had preceded us a 
few davs, long enough to speak the vernacular 
of mining and to pride themselves on being 
" old miners," assuming as such to know just 
where the gold would be found in the largest 
quantities, and where to expect the least. 

And now my mining life began. It was as 
free from restraint as the air that came through 
the soughing pines. Only Mexican law could 
be said to exist, and in all the mining region 
there were no officers to enforce its feeble de- 
mands. Every man was a law unto himself, 
and it is little to say in behalf of the pioneers 
of California that they carried the laws of 
justice and humanity in their hearts to such a 
degree that no more orderly society was ever 
knoA\-n on the face of the earth than in those 
early days. 

Pioneer mining life — what was it? The 
miner must have an outfit of a pick, pan, shovel, 
rocker, dipper and bucket of wood, or of raw- 
hide. A tent was good to have, but he could 
make shift during the dry season with a sub- 
stitute of boughs, for there was no fear of rain 
from May to October. A blanket of rubber 
spread on a stratum of leaves, on which his 
woolen blankets were laid, sufficed for a bed. 
His culinary utensils were confined to a fr)ang- 
pan, a small iron pot, tin cups and plates, 
knife, fork, and spoon. His wardrobe consisted 
generally of a pair of serviceable shirts, a change 
of trousers, strongboots, and a slouch-hat. With 
these, and a supply of bacon, fiour, salt, salera- 
tus, beans, a few candles, and occasionally 
fresh beef, the miner was ready for work. His 
luxuries were tea and raw sugar, with occasion- 
ally the addition of dried peaches from Chili. 
His bread was made by mixing flour, water, 



J70XEEA' .W/\/\G JX CArif'ORNIA. 



129 




l^ 



and saleratus in the tin or iron pan which did 
double duty in the kitchen and in t,'athering 
gold, and baking it about two inches thick, hke 
a shortcake. But skipjacks, the legitimate suc- 
cessors of the Mexican tortillas, were also a 
standard article of diet. Tin teapots were 
sometimes aftected, but the small iron pot with 
a hollow handle did duty for both tea and 
beans or frijoles. The latter were of a brown 
variety grown in Chili, and were prepared after 
the Mexican style with a piece of bacon or 
fresh beef and plenty of chili Colorado, or red 
])epper. They were allowed to cook a long 
time, often standing in the hot embers over 
night to be ready for breakfast in the morning. 
The bill-of-fare did not vary much for break- 
fa>t, dinner, and su[)per. 

The most expensive instrument of the early 
miner was the rocker, which, though sim])le 
in construction, cost in the mines from fifty 
to a hunilred tlollars. In general appearance 
it was not unlike a baby's cradle as used by 
our grandmothers and as still seen on the fron- 
tier. It consisted of a Hat bottom with two sides 
that flared outward, and aft end board at the 
head, while the foot wa.sopen save a riffle about 
an inch and a half high at the bottom to catch 
the gold that might pass another riffle across 
Vol. XLII.— 17. 




A TI'LE MARSH 

ON THE 

SAN JOAQUIN. 

(DRAWN nv 
HARKV KENN.) 



the bottom near 
the middle, .\tthe 
head of the cradle 
was a hopperabout 
eighteen inches 
sijuare, with a per- 
forated sheet-iron 
bottom or wire 
screen. Under this 
was an apron, or 
board, sloping 
do wnward towards 
the head. 'iwo 

substantial rockers under the whole com- 
pleted the simple machine which gave to the 
world millions of dollars. The modus o/><rijin/i 
maybe described as follows: 'l"wo sticks of 
wood hewn on the U|)per side were imbedded 
at the river's brink, one four inches lower than 
the other, on which the rockers were to rest, 
thus se( uringa grade in the machine to facili- 
tate the outwarii flow of the water and sand. 
Two miners usually worked together as part- 
ners. ( )ne shoveled the earth into the rocker, 
while the other, seated on a boulder or block 
of wood. dipi)ed the water from the river, and 
poured it u|>on the earth in the hoj)per with 
one hand, all the time rocking with the other. 



130 



PIONEER MINING IN CAIIFORNIA. 




THE OLD SACRAMENTO TRAIL NORTH OF DONNER LAKE. 

When the earth was thoroughly washed, he 
rose, Ufted the hopper from its place, threw 
out the stones and gravel, replaced it, and 
thus the work went on. As the ground about 
the rocker became exhausted to the bed-rock, 
recourse was had to the bucket, and the earth 
was carried sometimes a i^w rods, making 
laborious work for the miner. To keep the 
rocker going another hand would be employed 
to carry earth, and each would carry two 
buckets at a time. Hard work of this kind sug- 
gested improvements in mining. At noon the 
gold and black sand collected above the rififles 
were taken up on a scraper and thrown into 
the pan, which was carried to the river and 
carefully washed to remove as far as possible 
all but the gold. The yield of the forenoon was 
carried to the camp, dried over a blaze, the 
dry sand blown out, and the gold weighed in 
scales or guessed at, and poured into the part- 
nership purse and deposited under the bed or 
anywhere else out of sight. Few miners thought 
of weighing themselves down with gold, and few 
taxed their resources much to find places of 
concealment. I was in many camps down to 
1854, and in none did I ever know of a theft 
of gold, and I heard of but one, and that was 
punished by a cat-o'-nine-tails, which was after- 
ward nailed to the center-post of a trader's 
tent, as a warning to evil-doers. 

The gold taken from the river bars was 
mostly in the form of scales resembling cu- 
cumber seeds, and of varying size. It was 
most plentiful on the bed-rock and in a few 
inches of soil above it, though sometimes three 
or four feet of earth would pay to wash. 
Where the bed-rock was hard the miner cleaned 
it, for a shovelful of dirt might contain a few 
dollars in small particles. Where the bed-rock 
was soft shale or slate on edge the miner picked 
away an inch or so and washed it, as frequently 



the scales were found to be driven (juite thickly 
into the crevices. When the ground was very 
rich the rocker was cleaned of gold every hour 
or two. When work was over, around the sup- 
per fire the events of the day were discussed, 
earnings compared, reports made of grizzly 
bears or deer being seen or killed, of better 
diggings of " coarse gold " discovered. This 
was the hour for speculations as to the origin of 
the gold in the rivers, and a strong opinion was 
entertained by many who were not well-read 
that immense masses of the precious metal 
would some day be brought to light in the snow- 
capped peaks towering to the east. " Coarse 
gold " was a charm to the ear of the ordinary 
miner. His claim might be paying him an 
ounce a day in fine gold, but he was always 
interested in some reported diggings far away 
where the product was in lumps, and not infre- 
quently he left a good mine to seek some richer 
El Dorado. The characteristic and besetting 
fault of the early miner was unrest. He was 
forever seeking better fortune. Yet it was this 
passion for2:)rospecting that resulted in the dis- 
covery of gold in an incredibly short time from 
the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley to the 
northern limit of the State. To " prospect " was 
to find a spot that looked favorable and make 
an examination of it. The miner would take a 
pan of earth, shake and gyrate it under water, 
raising and tipping it frequently to run the dirt 
and water off, then plunge it again, and so con- 
tinue until a small residuum of black sand and 
gold remained. A speck of gold was the " color," 
several specks were " several colors," and the 
number and size determined the judgment of 
the miner whether he should go to work or 
move on. I have seen ounces taken in this 
way in a single pan, but in the earlier days 




WORKING A CLAIM. 



PIONEER MLWLXG IN CAIJEORNIA. 



131 




^r^ 



^;C' ''*^- 



"NOT EVEN THE COLOR. 
(composed from an old FRINT.) 

we counted a " bit " to the pan, twelve and a 
half cents, a fair j)rospcct. 

'I'lie average gain of the miner in those days 



pants of a locahty, inspired, it may be, by the 
fact that the swarms of new immigrants would 
soon compel a division, allowed a mining stat- 
ute limiting claims to a certain size. This varied 
in the different camps, and flepended somewhat 
on the richness of the earth, (lenerally each 
miner was restricted to about fifteen feet front 
on the river, the claim extending across the 
bar to the hill, but where the bar was a wide 
one the length was shortened. In some cases 
a claim was from fifteen to eighteen feet square. 
Back from the river and near the foot of the 
mountain the bed-rock was sometimes ten or 
twelve feet below the surface, and great labor 
was required to throw off the top earth to reach 
the auriferous stratum, and often such deep 
claims were very wet, calling for constant bail- 
ing. Of course such claims must be rich to pay, 



can never be known. Though he was extra- and some of them were, but it was not always 

ordinarily frank and confiding in the oft"hand so. I have known days and sometimes weeks 

conversations about the camp-fire, yet there is of hard work to be spent in one of these pits, 

reason to believe that his largest receipts were to find a smooth bed-rock at last with ver)' lit- 




sometimes not reported. My 
observation was that the indus- 
trious worker rarely brought to ~^ 
his sujjper less than ten dol- ^ 
lars, often an ounce (reckoned 
at sixteen dollars), and sometimes 
six ounces, or even more. I myself 
took from the earth nearly one hundred v 

and fifty ounces in seventeen successive 
working days. My largest clean-up was $224. 
( )ne day, in less than half an hour, I took 
with my knife from a crevice in the rocks six 
and a half ounces of gold. When the river 
went down after it had been swollen by the 
first rains and had swept over the bed-rock of 
bars supposed to be worked out, hundreds of 
glittering scales were left exposed, aftbrding 
pleasant picking for a day or two. 

The nights in the mines were glorious for 
sleep. However hot the days, — and I have 
known a thermometer hung on the north side 
of a pine-tree to show 1 28*' at two o'clock, — the 
nights were cool, reiiuiring at least one good 
pair of blankets for comfort. Stretched on the 
ground under a tent or canopy of boughs, or 
with nothing but the i)urest air between him 
and the stars, the miner was lulled to rest by 
the murmur of the river or by a coyote, running 
his remarkable gamut. The great heat did not 
interfere with wf)rk, and there was not a case 
of sunstroke, nor was the atmosphere sultry or 
very oppres.sive. Eighty-eight degrees in the 
moist climate of Panama made life vastly more 
uncomfortable. 

.\t first, and until the blue-shirted population 
became numerous, not much regard was had 
to the size of claims, the miner occu])ying about 
all the grounil he doired. Hut a change soon 
came. The sense of justice of the first occu- 




SIRFACR SLUICING 



grip 



others live 



tie gold on it. Now and 
then, after long and tedi- 
ous toil and discourage- 
ments, the miner " struck 
his jjile," but as often he 
found nothing but barren 
rock or gravel. 

Mining is one of the 
most fascinating and ex- 
citing of employments. 
15ut in the earlier days, 
when we knew less about 
genuine indications, min- 
ing was, more than now, 
a species of gambling. I'he 
effects are yet to be seen 
in hundreds of men still 
living near their old 
haunts, who, in common 
jjhrase, have " lost their 
in our memories who. 



after repeated disappointment, sleep on the 
mountain sides in nameless graves. Vet these 
same unfortunates did their part in giving to 
the world thousands of millions of dollars. 




LONG TOM. 



(COMflSFD FROM A I 
KKV, riULISIIEU A I 



BV IIRITTON b. 



132 



PIONEER MINING IN CAIIFORNIA. 



thus stimulating progress probably more than 
was ever known in any other epoch of similar 
length in the history of mankind. 

The early miner soon observed in working 
by the river's shore that the pay dirt sometimes 
extended down under the water, and he was 
not slow in going after the yellow metal wher- 
ever it was to be found. Large prospects sug- 
gested turning the stream from its bed to work 
the bottom, and this was usually done by dig- 
ging a canal across the bar, or by carrying the 
water in a wooden flume over the channel or 
across the bends, I have seen companies of 
men, filled with enthusiasm and confidence, 
at work for weeks until the river-bed was laid 
bare, to find only a narrow strip of pay ground 
along the edge. But in some cases the reward 
was enormous. 

One Sunday in September, 1849, putting on 
my " store clothes " and " biled shirt," brought 
along from the old home in utter ignorance of 
the real life I was to lead in the mines, I went 
on a pedestrian trip of observation down the 
river. The air of the morning was like cham- 
pagne. The shaking of rockers or rattle of 
stones thrown from hoppers was little heard. 
Miners were washing their clothes by the side 
of the river. Camp-fires smoked everywhere, 
and many resting or sleeping men were 
stretched on buffalo-robes or blankets under 
trees and brush awnings. The trail was across 
rocky bars, stony points, and along the steep 
sides of the hills. I had sauntered for three 
or four miles when, on rounding a point, a 
busy and novel scene burst on my view\ Files 
of Mexicans were coming and going, bearing 
earth in wooden bateas on their heads to make 
a dam in order to turn the stream. The work 
was being superintended by a stalwart Ameri- 
can, the projector of the enterprise, in broad 
sombrero, and reclining on a serape spread 
on the bank, reminding one of a planter with 
his slaves. It proved to be Colonel James, 



who was afterwards a distinguished criminal 
lawyer of San Francisco. I learned from him 
that the dam, after weeks of labor, was nearly 
completed ; an hour more and the river would 
be flowing in an old channel. My curiosity 
was excited, and I remained to see the result 
of his venture. When the water was drawn 
off, the bed of the river presented the appear- 
ance of successive strata of hard slate, on edge, 
from three or four inches to a foot or more 
apart, the softer slate or shale between having 
been worn out and the depressions partly filled 
with sand and gravel. These strata on edge 
extended diagonally across the channel, form- 
ing an abundance of natural riffles to catch 
and retain the gold. My recollection is that 
the bed of the river had been laid bare to an 
extent of 200 yards in length by 60 feet in 
width. The great moment of expectation had 
come. By invitation I followed the colonel, 
who carried a pick, a pan, a shovel, and a 
small tin cup. It was plain there would be 
little gravel to wash, as the claim was on the 
slope of a " rapid," the grade being so great 
that most of the light material borne by the 
waters had been carried over. The shovel at 
once showed the wealth of one of the crevices, 
and I distinctly saw the colonel take his tin 
cup by the handle and scrape up from the 
bottom of the crevice a few handfuls that 
seemed to me to be half gold. I did not stay 
to see the gold washed, but I can safely say 
that I saw at least a thousand dollars go into 
the pan in half an hour. 

I had seen enough to make a rosy report, 
and soon was a member of a company to turn 
the river near our camp on the bar. We 
dammed the river, the bed-rock of which was 
smooth and barren. It was no child's play, 
working in the water in the hot sun, sometimes 
up to our necks, laying boulders into a wall 
across the stream, and filling in above with the 
red clay of the mountain side. Miners would 



\ 



J) . 




"Ri.'s^^ -j^ 









"Ms»' 



>t«- 






^ w 



<'^^.>:' 



t.' 






."T-f.. hLLECRilW^ St .y^ - 



MARYSVILLE BLTTES, A LANDMARK OF THE SACRAMENTO VALLEY 



riOXEUR MIMXa IX r ////^>/,' \ / / 



M.^ 



I 



t^ ^f^Jlffi 





^£>«« 



.Tl.4 



A RUSH FOR NKW UIGGINGS. 



pass and repass, envy us our claim, and chances 
were numerous to sell out interests at goott fig- 
ures ; but we had come to California to make 
a fortune and return as soon as possible, and 
had no thought of selling a " sure thing " for 
a few thousand dollars. Alas, for great ex- 
pectations! the river ilaim i)roved a failure. 
The earnings from washing the bar were nearly 
all gone, newcomers occupied all the ground 
not exhausted, and so we prepared to wander, 
ri( tures of camp-life < rowd upon one. Who 
can forget the trains of loaded mules descend- 
ing the mountain to the bar, with their attend- 
ing Mexicans, raising a cloud of reil dust and 
filling the air with their cries of "Iloopal" 
'• Mula!" and other exj)letives? Ortheherdsof 
wild cattle galloping «lown at breakneck speed, 
followed by swarthy and dust-begrimed viJijuc- 
r<'.f."in sugar-loaf hats and legs of leather," anil 
their headlong riding over the boulder-coveretl 
bar, swinging their riatas and lassoing the fright- 
ened bullocks for the but( hers.^ .Almost every 
store-tent had one or more rude tables where 
cartl-playing was indulged in " for the drinks," 
or where monte. the favorite gambling game, 
was played for «lust,and at night these jtlace^ 
were alive with miners purchasing supplies or 
trying their luck at the tables. As illustrative 
of the confidence of traders in the miners, I 



may here mention that in 1849 ^'^'^ ''^"' ^ year 
or two thereafter I never knew of a miner be- 
ing refused credit for anything he wanted. A 
trader, a total stranger to me, who had heard 
a rumor of better iliggings, once offeretl me 
his tent and contents at cost — about $2200. 
not a dollar to be paid until all the goods were 
sold. 'Ihe miners on the bar were always reaily 
to help others with purse or counsel, to share 
the last flapjack or frijole, or to espouse the 
cause of the injured. On Sunday or when the 
work < )f the day was over visits were exchange! 1 
without formality, and there was a general cor- 
dial mingling of men from all parts of the 
country antl from every ([uarter of the globe. .\ 
considerable number of the first gold-seekers 
had brought books to the mines which pas.sed 
from hand to hand, and there could lie found 
a v;iriety of volumes, Reading and argument 
were common sources of amusement, and in 
some of the tents one might hear the picking of 
improvised banjos. 

The autumn of 1849 came on. The leaves 
had begun to fall ; the winds in the towering 
]>ines and the murmur of the waters had more 
melanclmly tones, the cricket.s sang more plain- 
tively, the few birds were restless, and what 
with the want of claims to work and the com- 
ing of the rainv sea.s<jn it was needful that we 



134 



PIONEER MINING IN CALIFORNIA. 




A ROUGH ROAD TO THE MINES. 



seek another locality and prepare for the win- 
ter. I had already prospected the Rich Cnilch 
of the Calaveras five or six miles away, had 
worked one day on a claim and had left a pick 
and shovel there as an evidence of owner- 
ship. The custom of the miners was to recog- 
nize mining tools in a claim as equivalent to 
possession, and in the absence of the claimant 
these tools were sufficient to hold the claim ten 
days. But my partner had fallen sick, and I 
was not able to leave him, and when we moved 
to the gulch eleven days after I had left it, we 
found the tools on the bank and two "jumpers " 
at work. We were too late, but we took the 
loss philosophically, as there was plenty of 
ground not taken. I understood afterward that 
the jumpers realized out of the claim about 
$7000 in six weeks, which was more than I 
pocketed from the gulch during the entire 
winter. 

The Rich Gulch was a good type of what 
were called "dry diggings" — a long arroyo, 
dry in summer with a good stream running 




A WOMAN IN THE MINES. 



down it after a rain. Claims extended from 
bank to bank, and for sixteen feet in length. 
The brown and red soil from the hills had 
run down in the course of time and changed 
the channel of the stream in many places, 
and here the miners had to expend a good 
deal of labor on what they called " dead work," 
removing this hill soil, sometimes twenty feet 
in depth, to get to the old gold-bearing bed. 
As cooperation in the way of drainage had at 
this time been little thought of, each claim 
had to get rid of its own water in any way 
without much consideration for neighbors be- 
low. The amount of bottom dirt washed was 
slight compared with the whole removed, but 
in most claims it was exceedingly rich. Many 
a man had reason to remember with pleasure 
those winter diggings for the fortune they gave 
him. The gold was coarser and rougher than 
that of the rivers, not having been so much 
ground among the sand and gravel. 

During the winter of 1849-50, the cost of 
living was extreme. As the season w^as a very 
wet one. the roads and trails were full of mud- 
holes, in which supply wagons were stuck and 
mules and oxen mired. Wagons and animals 
were unloaded several times a day to extricate 
them from the mud, and in one instance at 
least fourteen days were spent on the road from 
Stockton, fifty miles away. Flour reached a 
dollar a pound, rice the same, pork and ba- 
con a dollar and sixty cents a pound, sale- 
ratus sixteen dollars a pound, and spermaceti 
candles a dollar each. An ounce of gold was 
the price of a pick or shovel, and almost any- 
thing needed, except fresh beef, commanded 



PIONEER MIXIXG IX C.l f./EOA'X/.i. 



'35 



a proportionate price. That all miners did not 
get rich is accounted for in the statement 
that il look a fairc laim to pay expenses. The 
^hort duration of a placer < laim, the loss of 
lime in finding anotlier, anrl the too general 
restlessness, tell the story of many failures to 
realize a fortune by even those who were the 
most lucky. Too often it was due to extrava- 
gance, gambling, or the guz/ling of brandy or 



the little cr)mnninity. Some of his decisions in 
ca.ses of double ownershi|) of claims <lid not 
square with our notions of justi( e. It was more 
than suspected that he had been " greaseti," 
/. <\ bribed, to make them. A meeting of miners 
was called, and a committee was appointed to 
draf"t laws for the guh h. The alcalde, a stal- 
wart and swarthy Creole, gathered his boon 
companions around him and tried to interrujtt 




1 ii' ^i iiL 1 ••••■, I'. '- M II > i -.; \ r. 1 -^1, 



whisky at eight dollars a bottle. But, drunk 
or sober, one was obliged to ])ay two oun< es 
for a pair of pantaloons, a hundred dollars for 
a pair of long-legged boots, and four dollars 
expressage for a letter. 

There were not more than four or five log- 
huts in the gulch, nine-tenths of all the miners 
living in common soldier tents, about eight feet 
.s(|uare, the entire winter. r)iirs had a huge flre- 
|)la( e in front, that sent through our thin, cotton 
dwelling a warm glow from a fire of manzanita 
wood, whi( h is nearly equal to hickory for fuel, 
'i'he weather was at no time very cold, anil we 
suft'ered no di.scomfort. February was like May 
in New York. 

It was during this numth that an alcalde, 
a.ssuming to have derived his authority from 
an alcalde at Stockton, began to give law to 



the reading of the propo.sed laws, loudly de- 
claring that he was ah aide and was going to 
govern the caniji at any hazard. Hut the odds 
against him soon cooled his courage, and though 
l)istols were exhibited and violence was threat- 
ened, no blows were struck. The next mt)rn- 
ing the blusteringalcalde retired from the gulch 
forever. The neK laws constituted the first code 
(so far as I know) adopted in the mines, and 
sufficed for the settkiiKiit of disputes for a lr)nir 
time. 

I negle( letl tt> stale in the proper place that 
in the early part of October bu.siness took me 
to Sacramento, and I only go back to relate an 
incident whi( h will help tf) illustrate mining life 
as it was in California. The trip was made in 
a large mule-wagon dignifieil with the name of 
stage, and con.sumed nearly three days. Late 




< 

03 



UJ 

Z 



PIONEER MINfNG IN CALIEORNIA. 



»37 



in the afternoon of the first day, the driver 
said it was about time to camp, but he re- 
marked that at a house four miles farther on 
there was a woman. Now a woman in the 
mines was a rarity; wc had ha<l a glimpse of 
one on the bar during the summer, and that 
was all. It was at once put to vote to determine 
whether we shoukl camj) or go on. Of course 
there can be no doubt of the result. In the 
evening we halted in front of a log house 
with a very steep roof made of tules, and ap- 
plied forsui)per. The hostess, a tall, raw-boned 
.Missourian, on presenting our bill in the morn- 
ing, to weigh the dust put a cube of lead in the 
scales that approximated the size of a hymn- 
book, but the generosity and chivalry of the 
early miner and the rarity of women com- 
bined to make us ignore it. 

In the spring of 1S50 I returned to San 
Francisco, and in May, with one companion 
and four animals, went around the bay to So- 
noma and from thence began the exploration 
of that unknown region from Sonoma to Ore- 
gon. Wandering miners we knew had already 
gone over the mountains and found gold on the 
Trinity. Were there not other streams flowing 
into the Pacific north of San Francisco, and 
might not all be auriferous as well ? It was a 
tedious, eventful, but fruitless journey of for- 
ty-seven days, almost wholly over mountains 
trodden by Digger Indians and, what was 
more perilous, by ferocious grizzlies, of which 
we saw five at one time. No gold was found 
in any stream till we reached the Trinity, thirty- 
six days from San Francisco, and there the dig- 
gings were not remarkably rich. The hardest 
toilers reported but from eight to ten dol- 
lars a day. The style of mining did not differ 
from that which I have described, except 
that the pay dirt was carried a considerable 
distance in buckets from high and dry bars 
down to the river to be washed. Something 
better must be found, and a prospecting party 
was sent on an exploring expedition farther 
north. 

There were some queer distinctions in those 
ilays. One Sunday, going to thebutcher's booth, 
1 found a customer ahead of me, who inquired 
if he could not have a jnece of a liver which 
was hanging on a tree in plain sight. 

" Don't know if you can or not," said the 
butcher. 

" I W like to kncnv why ? I 'vc been trading 
with you all along, and never asked for liver 
before; but I want some variety now." 

" Stand around and let me look at you. No, 
you can't have anv liver." 

" Well, why ? " 

"There ain't enough to go round. I have 
to have some rule about givin' it out, and I 
have decided that no miner can have a scrap 
Vol.. XI.II.— jS. 



of liver from me unless he wears a canvas 
patch on the seat of his pants." 

The canvas patch was a badge of prece- 
dence as well recognized in our camp on the 
Trinity as the star of the Order of the Ciartcr 
is in Oreat liritain. 

( )n the 3d of July two of our prospecting 
j)arty relumed and whisjjcred the news that 
rich bars had been found on a stream full of 
salmon farther north, and the next morning we 
were off. The night f)f the fourth and fifth gave 
us the variety of a snow-storm, from which we 
took shelter under a roof of spruce boughs in- 
closed on three sides with the same material. 
After eleven days of exhausting climbing and 
descending steej) and lofty mountains, tearing 
our clothes in the tangled chaparral, camping 
at night in the chilly air where the water from 
melting snows made green jtastures for our 
mules, we reached the virgin diggings on 
Salmon River. There was no evidence that 
any white man had preceded us. The bars 
by the river were untouched ; an interminable 
forest stretched all over the mountain sides antl 
up and down the winding river, unmarked by 
the woodman's ax — not dense, but relieved 
by glades and openings, and but for the steep- 
ness of the mountains easily traveled. 

Here was a newer scene and a more novel 
life. There were but eleven Americans of us 
all told, and a wide and rugged region lay be- 
tween us and others of our race. I ndians came 
in S([uads, shyly viewed us, made their com- 
ments, and passed on. They were superior to 
the Diggers of the California valleys, and were 
of the blood of the Modocs, who committed 
such atrocities in the lava-beds twenty years 
after. 

My partner in the new diggings was a printer 
from the establishment of Harper cV brothers, 
who had come around the Horn as-one of Ste- 
venson's regiment in 1S47. Displeased with our 
allotment of claims, which were too wet, we re- 
solved to take chances alone with the Indians. 
So one fine morning we quietly packed the 
mules, forded the river at a shallow place, and 
proceeded to go we knew not whither. .\ tramj) 
of eight or nine miles on elk and Indian paths, 
along a ridge that rose two hundred feet above 
the river, brought us to a point at the junction 
of streams. Crossing the north fork we made 
our camp on a high bar covered with young 
pines and oaks and already occupied by an 
Indian family, with whom we hastened to make 
friends by gifts of beads, bracelets, and other 
trinkets cajjtivating to the savage. We had no 
tent, and maile our camp by inclosing a small 
space with ropes tied to saplings for comer 
posts, to keep the mules, turnetl loose ujjon 
the bar, away from our bed and provi.sions. 

Here, again, was a still fresher and wilder 



138 



PIONEER MINING IN CAIIFORNIA. 




san francisco 
(fkom an old lithograph by justh and quirot, in 

life. Cut loose from our kind we trusted to 
uncorrupted natives, and did not trust in vain. 
A little prospecting gave glowing promise. 
Fifty cents to the pan was not infrequent. The 
rocker was speedily screwed together and real 
work begun. The river was high from melting 
snows on the mountains, and the portions of the 
bars out of water were small, but our first day's 
work yielded about fourteen ounces. Thus we 



CARICATURES. 

THE COLLECTION OF COMMANDER JOHN K. BARTLF.TT.) 

passed two weeks, mining in patches and with 
varying success, when miners on the Klamath, 
hearing from the Indians that white men were 
working on one of the branches above, pushed 
up the country to see if somebody had not 
something better than they. Among the new- 
comers were a few Texans who laid claim to a 
very wet bar down the river, and were soon 
doing well. Somehow a rumor came to our 



PIONEER MINING IN CALIEORNIA. ,39 

isolated camp that big lump diggings had been was encamping. Meeting two muleteers gath- 

found to the northeast on Scott River, and the ering faggots for the fire, I incjuired what they 

Texans were on the wing. My ])artner took had to sell. " lVin);una cosa " (" Not a thing") 

the big lunij) fever and went along. 1 asso- was the answer, (ioing on to the ramp-fire I 

ciated myself with three others, entire strangers, incjuired if they would sell me something to eat. 

and we took possession of Texas l>ar, threw a The reply in Sjjanish was that they only sold by 

slight breakwater of clay along the river's edge the cargo. Then 1 observed, sitting by the fire 

to stop the water from si)reading over the bar, and smoking a cigarette, a Mexican whom I 

and then cutting a drain to the bed-rock from recognized. Ste])ping up to him I asked in 

the lower end, we had c omparatively dry Sj^anish if he did not know me. He said no. 

ground and went to washing. We worked early " But, Don Fernando, do you not remember 

and late, sometimes not ceasing till starlight, the man who bought an iron-gray mule of you 

for all our provisions except flour were ex- on the Calaveras last year ? " 

hausted, and our only reliance was on the In- "■' Ah, si, sc/'/or," and he grasped my hand. 

(Hans, who supplied us with salmon in exchange I explained the situation in as few worils as 

for trinkets. This kind of living could not last, possible. Instantly, snapping his thumb and 

and we strained every nerve to get as much finger, he called out to two men : 

gold from the claim as possible. The average '■'■Mini, hoinbrcs ! I'cn aca / Dos quititalcs 

spoil of a day was rather more than a hundred de harina, came scca, panoche, y todas cosas 

dollars to the man. About the middle of Se])- porlos Amcriiaiios ; <?//</i7.'" (" .\ttention,men ! 

tember a conference of the few miners left on Come here I Two quintals of flour, tlried beef, 

the river was held at the Fork^, and as the raw sugar, and everything for the .-Vmericans ; 

diggings were too good to abandon it was travel ! ") 

agreed to desi)atch six men and twenty mules " How much for it all?" I incjuired. 
to Trinidad on the coast for supplies to last the " A'lNi^itno cciiiavo ; gracias a Dios, Schor " 
winter. The train was made up and took the ("Not a cent; thanks to God, sir"), he replied 
trail at once. Haste was necessary, as even with emphasis, and the hoinbrcs carried an 
flour, the last link to civilization, was nearly abundant su])ply of substantials to our camp, 
gone. That tall and swarthy Don in brown sugar- 
Meanwhile the mining went on. Few in loaf hat, his head thrust through a hole in the 
numbers, and without provisions, our position middle of a blanket that served for a cloak, 
could easily become critical. Our relief party standing in his spurs, the rowels of which were 
came back suddenly ; it could not go through, four inches in diameter, is not a figure to be 
The Indians on the Klamath were hostile, readily forgotten. 

Oregon men had shot some Indian dogs down There was an incredible amount of cooking 

the river, and the young bucks had retaliated that night. Slapjacks and sugar, ropes of tlried 

by killing a horse. Thus began the so-called beef broiled on the coals, coft'ee made of an 

Klamath war, that cost the State, and ulti- extract — everything was welcome. It was a 

niately the nation, a large sum of money, merry night. I ne\ er knew before the inioxi- 

1 he miners were without delay in council, cation of eating. We cooked, ate, lay back 

My party of four had scant rations for four upon the blankets, told stories, retumetl to the 

days. At four o'clock we abandoned claims, cooking again, and so alternated until sleep 

l)icks, and shovels and commenced a forced overtook us in the warm glow of the fire, 

march for the Trinity. I shall not detail the WJien, in the afternoon, we made our entry 

experiences of that hurried tramp on foot into AN'eaverville, a scattered village of about 

over the roughest of mountains. It is enough four luimlreil miners' cabins, Don Fernando 

to .say that one day four of us subsisted on a found himself in trouble. He could find but one 

ground squirrel and a woodpecker, and the trader with money in the whole town — and he 

last day on copious draughts of water when was a type of the monopolists who have since 

fortunate enough to find it. .Ami when at last become the curse of California. He ottered the 

we struck the Trinity it was only to be dis- Mexican about half-price for his cargo, and there 

ai)i)ointed. The river was deserted ; the miners was no other place to which to tarry the goods, 

had gone to winter (|uarters in the '"dry dig- It was now our turn. It was suggested that 

gings" at Weaverville. Wet, weary, and dis- we help Don Fernando out. lie had been 

gusted, with a dreary prospect for supper, we ofl'ered $1200. We told him that we did not 

crawled up tiic bank and dropped down at want his goods, as we did not know what we 

a fallen tree to make a fire for the night. The were going to do, but we would make the 

mules were relieved of their packs and left to trader pay more for them, 

graze. They were too nearly dead to stray. "Tell him we ofier you $1500. " In a short 

A smoke was seen a few hundred yards away, time we learned thai $1600 had been bid. 

1 went to reconnoiter. A Mexican pack-train " Tell him we will give $1800." 



140 



PIONEER MINING IN CAIIFORNIA. 



Again came a bid of $1900. We ofifered 
$2000, and soon were confronted by an angry 
Missourian, who " was n't goin' to have any 
durned Yankee git in 'tween him and a greaser 
in a trade." So he jumped our bid $200. Don 
Fernando in a whisper said it was bastante 
(enough), and the Missourian was the buyer. 
We had paid off some of our obhgations to 
Don Fernando and had made a Httle stir in the 
new diggings. 

The autumn of 1850 was unhke that of 1849. 
The miners in the dry ravines had thrown up 
on the banks large quantities of pay-dirt from 
the beds, and were continuing their work hop- 
ing to be able to wash. But little rain fell till 
the following March. The miners scattered 
again along the Trinity to pay expenses, and 
I with others departed for Sacramento. 

The early summer of 185 1 found me in the 
mines at Nevada City, in the richest gold-pro- 
ducing section of California, or perhaps of the 
world. The two mining towns of Nevada and 
Grass Valley are but four miles apart, and that 
either of these is more populous than any other 
town in the Sierra Nevada is evidence of the 
great wealth of the region. The miners of 
Nevada County originated or adopted most of 
the improved methods for facilitating washing 
and saving gold. The long tom came into use 
early as the successor of the rocker. It was a 
trough of boards ten or twelve feet long, two 
feet wide on the bottom, with sides eight or ten 
inches high, and was furnished with a perforated 
sheet-iron plate three feet long, which had the 
end part curved upward to stop the stones and 
gravel, while the water, sand, and small gravel 
dropped through into a riffle-box below, set on 
an incline to allow the lighter matter to pass 
off with the water. The long tom was put on 
an easy grade and supplied with a constant 
stream of flowing water, enough to drive and 
wash all the earth thrown into it down upon 
the perforated screen. Two or more men shov- 
eled the earth into the tom, and one threw out 
the stones from the screen with a fork or square- 
pointed shovel, when they were sufficiently 
washed. As the claim was worked back, the 
long tom was extended by means of sluice 
boxes until a dozen or more miners were shov- 
eling dirt into them on both sides. Afterward 
it was found that by putting rifiles into the 
sluice boxes the long tom could be dispensed 
with, and miles of sluices of all sizes were seen, 
some suppHed with a few inches of running 
water, miners' measure, while others bore tor- 
rents of the muddy fluid. The sluice requiring 
a rapid flow of water was set on a grade of 
say four inches to twelve feet in length. It is 
plain that in a short distance the pay dirt would 
have to be lifted higher than the miner's head. 
A descending bed-rock added to the difficulty, 



and sometimes the earth was thrown by one 
set of miners up on a platform to be shoveled 
by another set into the sluice. Numerous small 
boulders were kept in the sluice, around and 
over which the water boiled and leaped, dis- 
solving the clay. When the gold was fine and 
difficult to save, quicksilver was poured into 
the sluices to catch it, the riffles arresting the 
amalgam as it moved down. 

More and more, as experience was gained, 
water was made to do the labor of men. In- 
stead of carrying the dirt in buckets to the 
river to be washed, the river was carried to the 
dirt. Ditches were dug at great expense and 
water from them was sold at a dollar an inch 
for ten hours' use, and often it was resold in 
its muddy state one, two, and three times at 
decreasing rates. The water belonged to the 
ditch owner as long as it could be used. The 
fact may here be noted that one of the first 
ditches constructed was that from Rock Creek 
to the hill diggings about Nevada City. It was 
nine miles long, and cost about ten thousand 
dollars, and so rich were the diggings and so 
active the demand for water that the enter- 
prise paid for itself in six weeks. 

It was early discovered that the river gorges 
in which the first mining was done — those 
deep channels from the high Sierra — cut 
across ancient river-beds filled with auriferous 
gravel, the bottoms of which w^ere hundreds 
of feet above the beds of the modern streams. 
From these deposits of far-back ages much of 
the gold found on the later river bars had 
come, and these ancient storehouses, exposed 
by the wear and tear of centuries, led to an- 
other kind of mining. Great canals from high 
up the rivers were carried with fine engineer- 
ing skill and large outlays of labor and money, 
without the aid of foreign capital but by the 
pluck, purses, and brawny arms of miners along 
frightful precipices, across cafions in lofty 
flumes and through tunnels to the ancient filled 
river channels. Here the water was carried 
down the banks in strong iron tubes or hose, 
and large quantities were compressed through 
nozzles and thrown with terrific force against the 
banks of auriferous gravel. Ditches dug in the 
earth on a moderate grade, or sluices of lum- 
ber, caught the muddy debris and separated the 
gold, leaving it on the bottom. A steady throw 
of this water against a bank, directed with a 
miner's judgment, was kept up for days and 
even months without cessation night or day. 
This was called hydraulic mining, and it was 
introduced into California in 1S52. To facih- 
tate the work of the monitor or water-cannon 
that shot the compressed stream, tunnels were 
run into the banks where they were hard and 
tons of powder were exploded in them at a 
single blast, pulverizing the deposit to the ex- 



PrOXRER .\fIXrXG IX CAIJFOKXIA. 



141 



tent of acres and often to a depth of more tlian 
a hundred feet. 

In the great mining region of California, 
which has given to the world more gold than 
any other area of like extent on the glo])e, all 
this is now over. The fiat of courts has gone 
forth that no debris of any kind ran he allowed 
to bo dumped into any stream or its affluent 
to the danger of property below or to the im- 
peding of navigable waters. Thus hxs been 
destroyed the market value of hunflreds of 
miles of canals, great artificial lakes to store 
the waters of winter, and vast deposits of au- 
riferous gravel — in a word, a hundred million 
dollars in mining* jtroperty. Thousantls of mi- 
ners who have exhau.sted their energies and the 
best part of their lives in the mines have, with 
their families, been reduced to poverty and 
distress. 

The old miner, full of cherished memories 
of that wonderful jtast, on revisiting the scenes 
of his early labors sees no winding line of mi- 
ners by the river marge, w ith their rattling rock- 
ers or long toms ; no smoke from camp-fire or 
chimney arises from the depths of gorges ; cab- 
ins are gone ; no laughter nor cheery voice 
comes up from the canons; no ounce a day 
is dried by the supper fire. Gone are most of 
the oaks and pines from the mountain-sides; 
the beds of the rivers are covered deep with the 
accumulated debris of years, over which the 
water, once clear and cold from the melting 
snows of the Sierra, goes sluggishly, laden with 
mud, in .serpentine windings from bank to bank. 
On the tableland above, in the chasms made 
by hydraulic power in the pleiocene drift, the 
hollow columns of iron that once compressed 
the water stand rusting away ; the monitors 
lie dismantled like artillery in a captured for- 
tress. All is silence and desolation where once 
was the roar of water and the noise of busy life. 



The same red and brown .sail is beneath your 
feet, the same alternation of ridges and gorges 
is here, the same skies unflecked by clouds 
from May to November are overhead ; the 
same pure air is left to breathe in spite of courts 
and monopolies ; a considerable portion of the 
soil is cultivated ; .scattered here and there ovrr 
the mountain slopes are homes surroundeil 
with flowers and fruits — but the early miner 
sees it all with the sad belief that the glory is 
gone. 

The early miner has never been truly painted. 
I protest against the flippant style and eccen- 
tric rhetoric of those writers who have made 
him a terror, or who, seizing upon a sporatlic 
ca.se of extreme oddity, some drunken, brawl- 
ing wretch, have given a caricature to the 
world as the tyjjical miner. The so-called lit- 
erature that treats of the golden era is too ex- 
travagant in this direction. In all my personal 
experience in mining-camps from 1849 to 1854 
there was not a case of bloodshed, robbery, 
theft, or actual violence. I doubt if a more or- 
derly society was ever known. How could it 
be otherwise ? The pioneers were young, ar- 
dent, uncorrupted, most of them well educated 
and from the best families in the East. The 
early miner was ambitious, energetic, and en- 
terprising. No undertaking was too great to 
daunt him. The pluck and resources exhibited 
by him in attempting mighty projects with 
nothing but his courage and his brawny arms 
to carry them out was j)henomenal. His gen- 
erosity was profuse and his .symj>athy active, 
knowing no distinction of race. His sentiment 
that justice is sacred was never dulled. H is .ser- 
vices were at command to .settle dift'erences 
peaceably, or with i)istol in hand to right a 
grievous wrong to a stranger. His capacity for 
self-government never has been surpassed. Of 
a glorious epoch, he was of a glorious race. 

E. G. Watte. 




A "C'lMIc" or RICHARD IKJVUt'S rWOM "fUWCM." 



IN BEAVER COVE. 



g* n ^Sr?rr ^f y-rtfrrat? '. 



^HEY were having a dance 
over in Beaver Cove, at 
the Woods'. All the young 
people of the settlement 
were there, and many from 
adjoining settlements. The 
main room of the cabin had 
-«v<»j» .-'-*^=^ been almost cleared of its 
^f^;*^ meager furniture, and the pine-plank 
Mw\ floor creaked under the tread of shuf- 
Uf^ fling feet, while dust and lamp-smoke 
\5 made the atmosphere thick and close. 

But little did the dancers care for that. Bill 
Eldridge sat by the hearth playing his fiddle 
with tireless energy, while a boy added the 
thumping of two straws to the much-tried 
fiddle-strings. A party of shy girls huddled 
in a corner of the room, and the bashful boys 
hung about the door, and talked loudly. 

" Hey, there ; git yer partners," Bill cried to 
them tauntingly from time to time. 

A'rmindy Hudgins and Elisha Cole were 
preeminently the leaders in the party. They 
danced together again and again ; they sat on 
the bench in the dooryard; they walked to the 
spring for a fresh draught of water. Armindy 
was the coquette of the settlement. In beauty, 
in spirit, and in daring, no other girl in Bea- 
ver Cove could compare with her. She could 
plow all day and dance half the night without 
losing her peachy bloom, and it was generally 
admitted that she could take her choice of the 
marriageable young men of the settlement. 
But she laughed at all of them by turns, until 
her lovers dwindled down to two, Elisha Cole 
and Ephraim Hurd. They were both desper- 
ately in earnest, and their rivalry had almost 
broken their lifelong friendship. She fiivored 
first one and then the other, but to-night she 
showed such decided preference for Cole that 
Hurd felt hatred filhng his heart. He did not 
dance at all, but hung about the door, or 
walked moodily up and down the yard, savage 
with jealousy. Armindy cast many mocking 
glances at him, but seemed to feel no pity for 
his suffering. 

In the middle of the evening, while they 
were yet fresh, she and Elisha danced the 
"hoe-down." All the others crowded back 
against the walls, leaving the middle of the 
room clear, and she and her partner took their 
places They were the best dancers in the set- 
tlement, and Beaver Cove could boast of some 
as good as any in all north Georgia. The music 
142 



struck up, and the two young people began 
slowly to shuffle their feet, advancing towards 
each other, then retreating. They moved at 
first without enthusiasm, gravely and coolly. 
The music quickened, and their steps with it. 
Now together, now separate, up and down the 
room, face to face, advancing^ receding, always 
in that sHding, shuffling step. The girl's face 
flushed; her lithe figure, clothed in the most 
primitively fashioned blue print gown, swayed 
and curved in a thousand graceful movements; 
her feet, shod in clumsy brogans, moved so 
swiftly one could scarcely follow them ; her 
yellow hair slipped from its fastenings and 
fell about her neck and shoulders ; her bosom 
heaved and palpitated. Panting and breath- 
less, Elisha dropped into a seat, his defeat 
greeted with jeering laughter by the crowd, 
while Armindy kept the floor. It was a wild, 
half-savage dance, and my pen refuses to 
describe it. Nowhere except in the mountains 
of north Georgia have I ever witnessed such 
a strange performance. 

Armindy would not stop until half-blind and 
reeling with exhaustion she darted towards the 
door amid the applause of the crowd. Elisha 
Cole started up to follow her, but Ephraim 
Hurd reached her side first, and went out into 
the yard with her. 

" You 've nearly killed yourself," he said, 
half-roughly, half-tenderly. 

" No such a thing," she retorted. 

" You 're out o' breath now." 

" I want some water." 

" Better sit down on this bench and rest a 
minute first," he said, attempting to lead her 
to a seat placed under an apple tree ; but she 
broke away from him, running swiftly towards 
the spring bubbling up from a thicket of laurel 
just beyond the dooryard fence. 

" I ain't no baby, Eph'um Hurd," she cried, 
gathering up her hair and winding it about 
her head again, the breeze fanning her flushed 
cheeks. 

The moon was clear and full over Bran- 
dreth's Peak, and Ephraim looked up at it, 
then down on the girl, softened, etherealized by 
its magic beams. 

" What makes you act so, Armindy? " 

She broke a spray of laurel bloom and thrust 
it through the coil of her hair. 

" I don't know what you 're talkin' about, 
Eph'um ; but I do know I 'm waitin' for you 
to give me that gourd o' water." 



H(^\V C.\IJ]-(M^NIA CAMK INTO THIC UXION. 



rORTY years ago in this month 
of September, California was 
a«lmitted into the I'nion. 
The rounding out offour dec- 
ades of State Hfe will be the 
occasion of a great celebra- 
tion at San Francisco on the 
gth of this month, in which an effort will be 
made to restore and to make real to the gen- 
eration of to-day the hardy pioneers and gold 
hunters who founded in this for western land 
as genuine an American commonwealth as 
Massachusetts or New York. It will help the 
young Califomian of to-day to appreciate the 
services of the men who, desj)ite many errors, 
laid firmly and well the foundations of the chief 
State on the Pacific coast. 

'i'he philosophic historian, with a perspec- 
tive of forty years, is apt to look back with 
a certain polite condescension upon the lead- 
ing events of early Califomian history, and es- 
])ecially upon the Bear Flag movement.' He 
condemns it out of hand as unnecessary, impoli- 
tic, and the work of men who had sinister or 
selfish motives. But the historian is unable to 
put himself in the place of the men who were 
the chief actors in that e])isode as in the other 
'-tirring events in California that crowded the 
)rdinary normal development of a century 
into a decade of strenuous life. To get the 
full measure of this early Califomian life one 
must have shared in the experiences of the 
pioneers, or have heard the stor}' of their perils 
and privations from the lips of survivors. Their 
stories furnish the best answer to the historian's 
strictures that the policy of the American set- 
tlers in California, just before the cession of the 
territory to the United States by Mexico, was 
uncalled for and unjustifiable. 

It is impassible to get a correct idea of the 
period without a clear knowledge of the envi- 



ronment and without some sympathy with the 
actors. The Califomia pioneers were made 
heroic by the fleeds which they perfomicd. 
In part, they had greatness thrust ujjon ihcm, 
for the very stress of circumstances developed 
those qualities which enabled them to bring 
order out of chaos and to solve (juestions in 
government and social order that had never 
been solved before in this country. Yet they 
were only plain Americans, many of them as 
rude and uncouth as Lincoln in his rail-split- 
ting days, but all had that fund of sound 
common sense which is bom of hard expe- 
rience and that ready adaptability to a new 
land and new customs that makes the western 
pioneer the ideal colonist. They brought with 
them across the plains in their huge wagons, 
that have been so aptly termed " ships of the 
desert," that passionate love of freedom and of 
individual rights that colored all their life in 
this far westem land. They found a pastoral 
people living a life as gracious as their climate. 
The two elements refused to mingle, and the 
stronger at once asserted itself. That the con- 
quest was made with so small a loss of life and 
so little personal suffering is greatly to the credit 
of the more aggressive race. With Fnglishmen 
in the place of the .\merican pioneers the first 
sign of restiveness on the part of the weaker 
race would have been the signal for hostilities 
that would not have ended in a well-nigh 
bloodless revolution. What the conquest of 
California proved above all other things was 
the rare self-control of the men who were gath- 
ered from all parts of the country. Down-east 
Yankee lawyers and Missourian backwoods- 
men fraternized and made common cause in 
the effort to plant .\merican institutions in this 
new land. Tliis work was marred by occasional 
outbursts of race prejudice and by undue haste 
in executing punishment, but these exceptions 



1 The revolution against Mexican authority in Cal- 
ifornia, known as the Hear Flag movement, will be 
fully treated of in future papers of the series on the 
(told Hunters of Californi.a, to which the present 
paper is preliminary, being here printed out of place 
chronologically by reason of its appositcness to the 
anniversary of the admission. It is enough for the 
purjwses of the present paper to say thai the move- 
ment w.is the result of friction l>etween certain Amer- 
ican settlers in California and the Mexican authorities, 
and that it was more or les?. intimately connected with 
the misunderstandings between Cieneral Castro, com- 
mander-in-chief of the Mexican forces, and Captain 



Fr(5mont on the occasion of his >-isit to California with 
an exploring exr>cdition in 1S46. As a symbol of revolt 
the fl.ig. of whicn the cut on page 7S4 is a representation, 
was hoisted at .Sonoma on the 14th of June. The 
capture of Sonoma was ciTected, without resistance, by 
thirty-two of llie settlers under command of Eickiel 
Merritt; and deneral M. G. V.illejo, Colonel Victor 
Prudon, Captain .Salvador Vallejo, and Jacob V. I.eese, 
brother-in-law of tli 
refu>ed to join the i 

as pri>oncr>. .Men ill w.is >uc<.ct'inl 111 the i.>>iiiiiiand 
of the insuri:ents by William U, Ide. — Ki>li<>R. 



775 



776 HOW CALIFORNIA CAME INTO THE UNION. 

only prove the essential justice and fairness of ment to intervene and establish a protectorate 

the work of the pioneers. over the territory, which in English hands 

It is not in the province of this article to could so easily be transformed into actual pos- 

discuss the Bear Flag episode. Only a brief session. 

summary of the salient events that led up to About the time that the Bear Flag party 

the cession is necessary to comprehend the cu- were getting ready for action in Sonoma the 

rious tangle of political interests in California American naval commander in charge of the 

that was destined never to be unraveled but Pacific squadron was at Mazatlan. Commo- 

to be cut by the hand of war. The conquest dore Sloat had received the most specific or- 

of California would probably have been pushed ders to occupy California at the first outbreak 

resolutely by the setders had not the Mexican of hostilities with Mexico. In the harbor of 

war broken out, since the raising of the Bear San Bias was the English admiral Sir George 

Flag and the declaration of the independence Seymour on board the British frigate Colliiig- 

of California made it impossible for the actors ^uood. Sloat feared that Seymour might receive 

in this revolution to recede from their position, the first news of the Mexican war and thus an- 

Four years before. Commodore Jones had ticipate him in seizing Monterey ; so as soon as 

taken possession of Monterey and hoisted the he obtained positive proof of the capture of 

American flag on the report that Mexico had Matamoras by General Taylor he sailed for 

begun hostilities. He made a formal apology California. Our navy was then a fair match 

when he discovered his mistake, but it is very for the British, especially in speed, and the 

unlikely that Fremont would have apologized Savannah could easily outsail the Collin givood ; 

for his part in the Bear Flag revolt, or that but Sloat took no risks, crowded on all sail, and 

Mexico would have accepted any explanation, reached Monterey on July 2. He had the 

All the actors in this period with whom I sloops Cyane and levant at Monterey and the 
have talked declare positively that the settlers Fortsniouth at Yerba Buena (San Francisco) 
were convinced that the occupation of Upper and no British sail had yet appeared.^ Sloat 
California by the Americans would be a question was a man who dreaded responsibility. He ex- 
of only a few months. They all felt assured pected to find Cahfornia peaceful; he even 
that the United States was prepared to seize the hoped to meet small opposition in raising the 
country on the first sign of hostilities on the American flag. But what was his astonishment 
part of Mexico. And their position was ren- to learn that the native Californians were bit- 
dered the more difificult by the constant fear terlyopposedtoanychange, and that they were 
of English annexation. The historians who in a red heat of resentment over Fremont's ac- 
have made the most careful study of this pe- tion. He found the British vice-consul, Forbes, 
riod look upon this fear of England as a bogy, supporting General Castro and Governor Pio 
but survivors of those days declare it was real Pico in their diatribes against the American 
and had no small part in influencing the acts adventurers, while the Spanish vice-consul, 
of the settlers. Whether England had any in- Lataillade, surpassed all the others in his con- 
tention of appropriating the territory is a point demnation of the Sonoma revolution. Sloat ac- 
which will probably never be satisfactorily de- cordingly hesitated five days before taking 
termined. Although there was nothing stronger possession of Monterey, 
at the time than rumors of English designs on On July 7, 1846, Commodore Sloat took 
California, it is only natural that men who had formal possession of California in the name 
a vivid recollection of the war of 181 2 should of the United States. After making a formal 
suspect the motives of England. She pos- demand for surrender upon the Mexican 
sessed British Columbia; she claimed all commandant, which that officer evaded by dis- 
territory north of the Columbia ; she had not claiming authority to act for Castro, the com- 
even relaxed her grip on Oregon. Here was modore prepared for action. He issued orders 
a magnificent stretch of territory, with the fin- warning the men against plundering or mal- 
est harbor on the Pacific, that could be gained treating any of the natives. Under Captain 
should the United States be found napping, Mervine a force of two hundred and fifty sea- 
It would have been against human nature for men and marines was landed and marched 
the settlers at the time of the conquest not to up in front of the old custom-house, which 
suspect England of lusting after this fair do- usually bore the Mexican colors. There is a 
main. It was known to a few also that the conflict of authority as to whether the flag was 
British vice-consul in Cahfornia for several flying on this day. The people crowded about, 
years had been trying to induce his govern- eager to see the spectacle, but there was no 

hostile demonstration. The commodore's proc- 

1 We give place to this widely received version of lamation to the people of California was read. 

Lommodore Sloat s action ; but see the article in " Call- t^ j 1 j ^1 i. 1. i .. 1 ■ ^ ^1 

forniana" in the present number by Professor Josiah ^^ declared that he proposed tohoiStthe 

Royce of Harvard University.— Editor. American flag at Monterey and to carry it 



J/OW CALrPORNIA CAME IX TO THE UNION. 



m 



throughout California. It was (Ircck to most American flag was raised there was unlioundcd 

ofthespeetators, who understood Spanisli only, enthusiasm on the part of the settlers. The 

and was received in silence. Then the Stars native Californians looked on in apathetic si- 

and Stripes were run U]), three roaring cheers lence. It may he that they counted on British 

were given, a salute of twenty-one guns was interference; but when Admiral Seymour ar- 




JOHN L. hKkMu.NI. (iKoM A tiALUbKHKU 1 VPK TAKKN ABOIT IO50; LEN 1 UV liKNKKAU FK^MONT.; 



fired, and California thus passed into the hands 
of the Americans, On the following ilay the 
l)roclamation was read on the plaza at Verba 
Buena, and the Mexican colors were su|)- 
planted by the American flag. At the old 
presidio, near the Golden Gate, was the dilap- 
idated Mexican fort with its rusty and useless 
guns ; but over these also the Stars and Stripes 
were raised — an earnest that this main gate- 
way of the Pacific would now be helil against 
all comers. In the other towns where the 
Vou XL. — 102. 



rived in Monterey Bay he courteously accepted 
the announcement of American possession, as 
did also the captain of the British war ship 
Juno, which visited San Francisco Bay two 
days after the flag was raised. 

This bloodless transfer of authority could 
probably have been the beginning and the 
end of the conquest of California but for the 
enmity aroused by the Bear Flag uprising and 
the feud between P>emont and Castro. As it 
was, the subsequent events of the conquest 



778 



HOW CALIFORNIA CAME INTO THE UNION. 




CU.MMUUuKE Sl.oAi, I. -. ;.. (1 l.i i.Al A I'OKIKAIT JN uIL I'AINTED AT PANAMA IN 184O. 
PHOTOGRAPH LENT BV HIS GRANDSON, J. B. WHITTEMORE.) 



may be put in a paragraph. Sloat declined 
Fremont's offer of his Bear Flag battahon ; but 
the chagrin which this caused was speedily 
forgotten, for Sloat, ill in body and weary of 
responsibility, turned over his command to 
Commodore Stockton and departed for the 
East. Stockton was the exact antithesis of 
Sloat. Responsibility did not worry him ; in 
fact, he enjoyed it. He promptly accepted 
Fremont's troops and issued orders for their 
prompt organization into a regiment. He 
pushed the campaign vigorously against the 
native Califomians, who were massed at Los 
Angeles; but when he reached that city he 
found everything quiet, took possession, and 
declared the war at an end. He had only 
just reached Monterey on his return when he 
was informed that all the south was again in 
arms. It required six months to subdue this 
revolt ; but the power of the insurgents was 
broken by General Kearney, who arrived over- 



land from New Mexico, after one of the se- 
verest marches on record. He cooperated with 
Stockton's marines, and finally the Califomi- 
ans gave up the fight; and the treaty of Cahu- 
enga on January 13, 1847, ended the last stand 
made by the natives for control of the terri- 
tory. The Californians surrendered to Fremont 
probably because they counted on getting bet- 
ter terms than from Stockton ; and this expec- 
tation was fulfilled, as unconditional pardon 
was granted to all who had borne arms, with 
freedom to leave the country, and full rights 
of citizenship to those who chose to remain. 

There was a strong element of opi'ra boiiffe 
about the conquest. Seldom did the opposing 
forces number over five hundred men, and 
even the engagements at San Pasqual and 
San Gabriel were little more than skirmishes. 
But it is undeniable that much hard work was 
done by Stockton, Fremont, and Kearney. 

The ensuing five months before the cession 



JlOir CALIPORXIA CAME INTO 77//': UN/ON. 



IV) 



were filled with controversies between Stock- 
ton and Kearney, and then between Kearney 
and Fremont. They resulted in the departure 
of all three to the East and the succession of 
Colonel Richard B. Mason to the position of 
governor of the territory and ronimander ofthe 
I'niled Slates forces. The country was dis- 
([uieted by rumorsof an expedition from Mexico 
to reconciuer the territory, and by reports of 
strong disaft'ection among the native Califor- 
nians in the southern counties, where few 
Americans hail .settled. 

.Ml doubts and fears were ended, however, 
on .\ugust 6, 1848, when news ofthe ratitica- 
tion ofthe treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was 
received. Tiie territory ceded by Mexico in- 
cluded not only California but .Vrizona, New 
Mexico, and Texas. One year's time was given 
to all residents of this territory to decide whether 
they would remain as United States citizens or 
depart for Mexico. Property rights and Mexi- 
can grants and titles were to be fully respected. 
Ciovernor Mason issued a wise proclamation, in 
which he assured all the old inhabitants that 
they would be protected in the free enjoyment 
of their liberty and property. But hard-headed 
American pioneers demanded a better system of 
government than the Mexican law gave them. 



decisions; and though this system might suit a 
primitive pastoral community, it was as obso- 
lete for .Americans as the laws of feudal I'.ng- 
land.i 

The urgent nece.ssity for a stable government 
led the California settlers to believe that Con- 
gress would not adjourn without providing 
l^roper officers for the new territory, which was 
now .Vmerican in name as well as in fact. Presi- 
dent Polk, in a special message to Congress on 
July 6, 1848, called attention io the ]jeculiar sit- 
uation in California and urged Congress to es- 
tablish a territorial government. At this time 
it began to be foreseen by the frientls of Cali- 
fornia that a hard struggle was before them, 
but it is doubtful whether any one suspected 
that the fight over California between the two 
sections would become .so bitter as to threaten 
secession and civil war. Ivxtension of slavery 
and maintenance of the slave-holding power 
in Congress were the great issues. The admis- 
sion of Iowa and ^\'isconsin had neutralized 
the South's advantage in securing Texas. Thus 
the lines were evcnlv drawn in the Senate, — 
fifteen States on each side, — anil the Southern 
leaders saw clearly that unless they obtained 
control of the new territory ceded by Mexico 
all the fruits of the Mexican war would be 




•I" 



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CULTU.S HAUL, .MONTliKliV — :>cli.Nli Ul lllli CO.SSU 1 L. 1 lO.N.VL CO.WENTION. 

Under this system the alcalde, or district judge, lost to them. For three years the power of the 
was given more power than the Supreme Court free States had been growmg at a rate which 
enjoys to-day. There was no appeal from hi?, threatened speedily to place the slave States 

1 Governor M.ison had received no instructions, but 
as military governor he wisely determined to make no 
change until Congress provicledatcrritorialf;overnnicnt. 
riie situation was anomalous. The treaty of piace 
with Mexico left California with nb other than a </<" 
/>u-/o government. Mason frankly admitted that he had 
no authority to collect duties should merchants refuse 
to pay them, and he expressed the fear that the ra|)id 
desertion of troops would leave him without any mili- 



tary l).acking; yet he declared he would excrci.-.c cu 
irol over the alcaldes apjxjintcd and maintain order 
if possible. He held that no one h.id any right to 
move in providing a Ijeltcr government until Congress 
should act in the matter. Directly op]X)seil to his as- 
sumption of jiower were the m.ijority of the .\merican 
settlers, w ho held that they had a perfect right to estab- 
lish a government so long as Congress failed to make 
California a territory and provide a suitable government. 




ENGRAVE.0 BY T. JOHNSON. 



COMMODORE ROBERT FIELD STOCKTON. 

(FROM A PAINTING ON IVORY OWNED BY HIS SON, HON. JOHN P. STOCKTON.) 



rrO]]' CAf.IFORXIA CAME IXTO 77 /F UNION. 7S1 

in a feeble minority. The struggle over the of tlie Sacramento. In the mean time the news 

W'ilmot ])roviso — which prohibited the intro- had spread to the Kast, to .\ustraha, and to 

(iuction of slavery into the territory to be ac- South America. Krom all quarters came young 

(|uired by the Mexican war — was an earnest men as eager for adventure as for gold. Not 

of the savage ])olitical warfare that was to HjI- one in a thousand had any ])ractical knowledge 

low. The pioneer eftbrt for compromise on of mining or any plan of remaining in the 

California was made just after the treaty with country after a fortune had been made, l-.ighty 

Mexico. 'I'his was the reference of the subject thousand is a conservative estimate of the num- 

to a committee of eight from tlie Senate, which ber of gold hunters who flocked to California in 

decided to admit Oregon, California, and New the first twelve months that followed .Marshall's 

Mexico as Territories, but to refer the slavery discovery. Thegreatmajority of thegold seek- 

(|uestion to the Suj^reme Court. This satisfied ers were crowded into the .Sacramento X'alley, 

the Senate, but the House promptly refused to where the richest placers had been found on the 

adopt it. Sacramento, Yuba, American, and Feather riv- 

While California thus served as a bone of ers. Sacramento City had been founded on the 

contention in Congress, an event occurred that river hard by Sutter's historic fort, and was the 

gave an enormous impetus to the movement chief town in the valley. The American pas- 

in favor of State government. This was the sion for comer lots developed early among the 

discoveryofgoldby James W.Marshall in Cap- miners, and to record transfers some legal of- 

tain Sutter's mill race at Coloma on January fleers were recjuired. In January, 1849, the 

19,1848.1 Most significant of all dates in Cali- ])eople of Sacramento accordingly elected a 

fomia history is this, for the gold discovery first magistrate and recorder for the district. 

has colored every phase of social and political In .San Francisco and San Jose the same trouble 

development in the chief State of the Pacific was experienced and the same desire was felt 

coast. Yet, to the men who preceded the gold for a suitable government. Meetings were held 

hunters we must look for the impulse towards in the three cities, and it was decided to elect 

a sound government. The Forty-niners aided delegates to a convention for forming a pro- 

the movement by sheer force of numbers, but visional government. San Francisco was in the 

the yeoman's work was done by the many able most grievous plight because of conflict of au- 

men who had helped to conquer California or thority between the ])rovisional officers. In 

who came in from the adjoining Territory of August, 1847, Governor Mason had sanctioned 

Oregon. the election of a town council, but this went 

One of the anomalies of the gold discovery out of existence in December, 1848. An elec- 

was its slowness in reaching Americans in Cali- tion for a new council was declared invalid 



*» 



fomia. It was midsummer before the news through fraud. San Francisco diftered from 

was generally credited in California and Ore- nearly every other large town in California in 

gon. Then, when people became convinced that it had no basis of native inhabitants. It 

that the reports were true and that fortunes was almost purely American, and the national 

could be made in a few months in the Sacra- desire for self-government led to the election 

mento Valley, there was a rush such as was of a legislative assembly and three justices of 

never before known in history. Of course the the ])eace. The old office of alcalde was to be 

California settlers had the great advantage of abolished. This i)rogramme was carrie«l out, 

])roximity to the new El Dorado. Next, per- but the alcalde refused to give up his office. 

Iiaps, came those in Honolulu. The Oregoni- Finally the officesof sheriff, register, an<l treas- 

ans obtained their news by way of the Sand- urer were added, and the alcalde was legally 

wich Islands and Fort Vancouver. These ejected. Yet none of the acts of this impro- 

hardy pioneers had just emerged from a long vised body was ever legally sanctioned. Cien- 

struggle with hunger, the wilderness, and the eral Persifer F. Smith hacl succeeded Mason 

Indians. They were poor, and they .saw in the as military commander, and (ieneral Bennett 

future only a vista of weary work with small Riley had been appointed militar>- gov- 

])rofits, as they had no market for their prod- ernor. Smith's duties were to defend Cali- 

u( e. Suddenly the scattered settlements were fomia and Oregon from attack and to preserve 

electrified by the news of the gold discovery, peace. To Riley was intrusted the difficult 

Those who took part in the rush declare that task of administering the civil affairs of a land 

not less than two-thirds of all those capable which was neither an acknowledged Territors 

of bearing arms swarmed over the Siskiyou nor a State. Two months before Riley's ar- 

Mountains and came down to the gold fields rival the delegates elected to the convention de- 
cided to postpone this meeting until August. If 

1 This is the commonly accepted date, but Mr. John ,,^. ,^3^ ^i^^^ Congress had taken no action, the 

S. Hittell has demonstrated m the "Overland ,- , '^ xt . i j f» 

Monthly" th.it the actual date was January 24. - «lelegates were to meet at .Monterey and draft 

hi.iToR. a constitution to be submitted to the people. 



782 



HOW CALIFORNIA CAME INTO THE UNION. 




I'ETEK H. BURNETT, HKbT GOVERNOR UV CALIEOKMA. (KKOM A DAGUEKKEOTYPE.) 



Old Bennett Riley was perhaps the best man 
who could have been selected for governor, 
as he was the embodiment of all that was just 
and impartial in the military system. He had 
strong convictions; but, unlike most of the mil- 
itary men who came into prominence in Cal- 
ifornia, he was not prejudiced or vacillating. 
He made a thorough study of the situation, 
and when he had once become convinced of 
the soundness of his position, neither coaxing 
nor bullying could move him one jot. His 
arrival in May brought to a head the whole 
question of the government of the new terri- 
tory. There was absolutely no precedent for 
the cession of the territory, and the neglect 
of Congress to provide territorial officers left 
California in the unique position of a land with- 
out a government. Two opposing theories of 
the status of the country were held, one by 



the settlers and the other by the military gov- 
ernor; yet, though the settlers prevailed, the 
legal question was never referred to a compe- 
tent court, and remains undecided to this day. 
Many of the settlers who were most active 
in demanding that the people should elect 
their own officers came from Oregon. They 
were gold hunters, but they had had valuable 
pioneer training in redeeming Oregon from the 
wilderness and in working out unaided the 
problem of self-government. At their head 
was Peter H. Burnett, a Tennesseean who mi- 
grated to Missouri and started for Oregon in 
the summer of 1843. He was a lawyer, and 
did good work in the legislative committee 
of Oregon which drafted a good constitution 
and established an efficient government. Bur- 
nett, who was desdned to play an important 
part in the movement for statehood in Call- 



/row CM.I FORMA C./ I/A" IXTO Tfll-: i'X/OjV. 



783 



fiirnia, is a fine s|)c< iincn of the Western pio- 
neer; for he is still alive, in full |)ossession of his 
facuhies, at eighty-two years. He had done 
his part in Oregon, anil now he saw the same 
necessity arising in California that he liatl aided 
to meet and satisfy in tlic neighboring State, 
lie presided at the first meeting held in Sac- 
ramento to devise [jlans for a i)ro visional govern- 
ment, and in June, 1849, he became a member 
of the legislative assembly of San Francisco, 
and at once took an active part in the move- 
ment that resulted in the calling of a constitu- 
tional convention. 

Karly in June, Riley issued two proclama- 
tions. One, addressed to the people of Cali- 
fornia, gave a clear summary of the situation 
and announced a special election for delegates 
to a convention which he called to meet at Mon- 
terey in Se])tember for the ])urpose of forming 
a territorial or State organization. It also in- 
cluded a list of officials, adapted from the 
Mexican system, to be elected. The second 
proclamatiim, issued a day later, was a formal 
declaration that the legislative assembly of 
San Francisco had usurped the powers 
Nested only in Congress. It fell to 
llumett to head the settlers' j)arty in 
its opjiosition to the claims of General 
Riley. The situation was unique in 
American politics. Riley's position 
may be briefly stated as follows : The 
laws of California, he held, must con- 
tinue in force until changed by com- 
petent authority. The power to replace 
these laws by others is vested in Con- 
gress. The situation differed from that 
in Oregon, for Oregon was witlK)ut 
laws, while California had a comjjletc 
system, which, though defective, must 
continue in force until repealed by 
valid legislative power. California, in 
fme, resembled Louisiana after the 
purchase; and the decision of the 
Supreme Court recognizing the valid- 
ity of the laws of Louisiana under 
French rule fonned a safe guide in the 
present case. Thus, according to Ri- 
ley's logic, the San Francisco legisla- 
tive assembly had usurped i)Owers 
belonging to Congress, and had abso- 
lutely no right to call a convention. 

The j)Osition of the settlers may be 
summed up in a few words. The moment the 
treaty took effect, according to their view, the 
United States Constitution and .American laws 
superseded in California the Mexican civil 
law ; while Congress refused to legislate for 
California, the people had the right, untler the 
Constitution, to exercise that power; a subor- 
dinate military officer could not fill the office 
of governor ; it was not common sense to ex- 



pect .Ameru ans, unfamiliar witli Spanish, to 
administer the Mexi( an law. which they flid 
not understand, and which had no bearing on 
practical life. Finally, a temporary exercise of 
legislative |)ower by the ])cople was not in vio- 
lation of the Constitution, but only the practi- 
cal application of the rights of .American 
citizens.' 

Political excitement ran high when (leneral 
Riley's two proclamations reached San Fran- 
cisco on June 9. It had been an eventful 
week. On the 4th the long-expected steamer 
arrived from Panama. As she came into the 
harbor the wharf was crowded with men, eager 
to learn the news of the action of Congress. 
The majority were confident the new terri- 
torial officers were on boarti, empowereil to 
provide for some representation of California 
in Congress. Deep was the disgust when it was 
found that Congress had not only failed to 
make any provision for the government of 
California, but had actually voted to extend 
the revenue laws to the new territory and had 
sent a collector to levy the duties. The re- 




st. GWIN. (FNOM A I'HOTOORAPII BV BRADLSV « BfLOFSON.) 

sources of Califomians in picturesque profanity 
were s;idly taxed on tliat day. The Plaza, the 
streets, the siiloons, the gambling palaces, 
echoed to the indignant protests of men who 
felt the injustice of taxation without rejjresenta- 
tion as keenly as their forefathers smarted under 
the measures of Lord North. The excitement 

1 See article by Francis Lippitt in " Califomiana " in 
the present numlicr. — KniTOR. 



784 



HOJV CALIFORNIA CAME INTO THE UNION 




J. ROSS BROWNE. 

(FROM A PHOTOGRAPH IN THE ROOMS OF THE SOCIETY OF 

CALIFORNIA PIONEERS.) 



found vent in a great mass meeting on the 
Plaza, or Portsmouth Square — the scene of 
most of the stirring events in early San Fran- 
cisco history. Resolutions, written by Burnett, 
expressed in no uncertain language the feel- 
ings of the people. They declared that both 
parties in Congress evidently expected Cali- 
fornia to settle the question of her admission, 
which hinged solely on slavery, and that the 
quicker this was done the better. They recom- 
mended the immediate election of delegates 
to the constitutional convention. 

The scenes in Congress during this second 
struggle over California were intensely exciting. 
When the second session of the Thirtieth Con- 
gress met on December 5, 1848, President Polk 
again presented the claims of California, fortified 
by Governor Mason's report, and by letters of 
Thomas O. Larkin, United States consul at 
Monterey, detailing the importance of the gold 
discovery and the certainty of an enormous im- 
migration into the new territory. Stephen A. 
Douglas, who was eager to prevent an open 
rupture between the two sections, drafted a bill 
for the admission of all the new territory as the 
State of California, with the proviso that Con- 
gress divide it, after admission, into other States. 
The judiciary committee pronounced this un- 
constitutional, and recommended the making of 
two new Territories out of the ceded domain. 
The Congress that discussed this question in- 
cluded some of the ablest of American states- 
men, yet not one appeared to foresee the 
importance of California or the significance of 
the gold discovery. Several of the schemes pro- 



posed were puerile and senseless. A motion 
was even adopted by the committee of the whole 
to cede back to Mexico all of California ex- 
cept the port of San Francisco, which would 
then have been for this country what Hong 
Kong is for England on the coast of China. 
The quarrel over California grew more and more 
envenomed as the session proceeded, until 
finally a deadlock resulted. Amendments pro- 
viding for revenue laws in California had been 
added to the civil and diplomatic appropriation 
bill. The followers of Calhoun denounced this 
as an invidious scheme on the part of the 
Northern faction to force the issue over Cali- 
fornia, and they threatened to defeat the ap- 
propriation bill and thus leave the Government 
without funds unless the California section was 
withdrawn. Congress expired by limitation on 
Saturday, March 3, at midnight, but the new 
President, General Taylor, was not to be in- 
augurated until Monday. The Southern sena- 
tors filibustered in the hope of killing the bill, 
and with it any recognition of California. The 
Senate Chamber has witnessed many exciting 
scenes, but none perhaps ever equaled the 
storm that raged on this night as the hands of 
the great clock neared the midnight hour. The 
Southerners insisted that the session ended at 
midnight ; but the logic of Webster, who held 
that the legislative day ended only with the 
sitting, at last prevailed. All through the night 
the fight went on, but just before daybreak the 
Southern forces weakened and the bill was 
passed. 

The steamer which bore this news of con- 
gressional inaction brought to California two 
men, one destined to prominence in the ^first 
ten years of California's stormy poHtical life, 
the other to brief notoriety, due as much to his 
eccentricity as to his official position. The 
first, who showed from the outset his dominating 
mind, was Dr. William M. Gwin of Mississippi, 
who had served in Congress, and who came to 
California with the purpose of becoming the first 
United States senator from the new State. He 





*" t 



ITiiL.X-,- 



THE BEAR FLAG HOISTED AT SONOMA JUNE 14, 1846; 

FINALLV LOWERED AT SAME PLACE JULY II, 1846. 

(FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA 

PIONEERS, SAN FRANCISCO.) 



J/OIV CAI IFORNIA CAME INTO TIIF. UXION. 785 

was an ardent (liscii)le of Calhoun, and was in the nineties. 'I'he spectacle of a modem 

counted Uj)on to do all in his power to throw " dude " among the red-shirted miners of 

California into the slave-holding ranks. The Leadville ten years ago, when the silver fever 

other was Thomas Butler King, a Georgia first broke out, was not more irresistibly comic 

congressman, sent out by the Taylor admin- than this |)icture of the old-time Southern ex- 

istration to advocate the atlmission of California (piisite arrayed like a bridegroom for a long, 

as a State. Both spoke at the mass meeting hot, dusty ride through the plains of the San 

in San Francisco three days after their arrival. Joatpiin. Ceneral Smith ])rotested, but to no 

in several other towns meetings were held ap- avail ; yet he had the satisfaction of seeing his 

proving the San Francisco resolutions, and one prophecies fulfilled when King, on his return, 

assemblage on Mormon Island, in the Sacra- was stricken with fever that came near ending 

mento River, i>ledged itself to discountenance his eccentricities. 

any effort t(jwards secession from the Union. The Whig administration that sent out 

ihe report of this meeting, with vague rumors Butler King to smooth the way for state- 

of the growing discontent, ajipeared to confirm hood in California blundered in this as in 

the suspicions of Ceneral Riley that there was most of its other acts. It was vitally impor- 

a real plan to form an independent govern- tant that the man selected for this work should 

ment. He thereupon issued a thiril proclama- be cpiick to see the spirit of the people ; but 

tion, denouncing the scheme, and asserting King tried to mold this Western life, which 

that recent orders from Washington confirmed he never comi)rehended, to fit his orders, and 

his previous views that the plan of establishing the result was that he j)layed directly into 

an independent government could not be sane- the hands of the men who came so near to 

tioned. Burnett at once replied, showing the securing the greater |)art of the new territory 

absurtlity of the suspicion that the settlers to the slave-holding States. Gwin used King 

wanted independence, and making a strong as he used others, to carry out his scheme, 

plea for the wisdom and justice of the course which was only thwarted by the shrewiiness 

the people had been forced to adopt. That of a few antislavery men in the convention, 

there was no intention wantonly to antagonize During the two months before the conven- 

Cieneral Riley was proved by the action of the tion met Gwin had strongly im])ressed his 

delegates in agreeing to hold the convention personality upon California public affairs, 

at Monterey on the day fixed by the governor, and secured election as a delegate to the 

Having decided the important question of convention. Although when the convention 

the calling of a convention, the California set- opened he had been in California only four 

tiers returned with renewed zest to the business months, he hatl managed by his skill and ad- 

of gold-hunting and money-getting. In this dress to become possessed of all the political 

interregnum of two months about the only inci- influences at work and to gauge accurately 

dentworthyof note is furnished by Butler King, their strength and importance. The result of 

President Taylor's ambassador to the new ter- the election of delegates was to give the pro- 

ritory. In July he made an official tour of the slavery men the predominance, although later, 

mines. He traveled in state, being escorted by when additional delegates were admitted to 

General Smith, Commoilore Jones, and a body form a quorum, the Northern men numbered 

of cavalry under Lieutenant Stoneman, after- 22, against 15 from the slave-holding States, 7 

wards ])rominent in the war and lately governor native Californians, and 4 of foreign birth, 

of the State. It was the height of the dry sea- The convention met on September 1, but 

son, when the wide plains of the Sacramento was not organized until two days later, for lack 

and the San Joacpiin glowed under the fierce of a quorum. The meeting-place was Colton 

heatof a semi-tropical sun. Only men in search Hall, in Monterey, which had the distinction 

of gold could be induced to work under this of being the only plastered house in the new 

sun during the middle of the day, because of territory. Consitlering the haphazard way in 

the danger of fever from overheating. Kven which the delegates were selected, the conven- 

hardy frontiersmen, when passing through the tion was an able body. The curious mingling 

great California valleys in summer, rose early, of races in California, as well as the youth of 

and adopted the native custom of a long siesta the pioneers, was seen in its composition. Of 

at midday. King, however, rose superior to the 48 members 36 were Americans; New\'ork 

the climate as well as the customs of the far furnished 11, New England 6, and Maryland 

West. He kept i)rccisely the same hours as 5. Of native Californians there were 7, while 

when in Washington — rose at eight, dressed 5 delegates were of foreign birth. Only two of 

himself with extreme care, had his boots pol- the native Californians spoke English with any 

ished, took a leisurely breakfast, and then set tluency or understood it easily ; hence it was 

out on the day's journey, when the sun wxs necessar)- to employ an interpreter, and the 

high in the heavens, and the mercury far up proceedings were recordeil in English and 
Vol- XL.— 103. 



786 



HOW CALIFORNIA CAME INTO THE UNION 



Spanish. It was probably the most youthful 
legislative body that ever met ; 9 men being 
under thirty, 23 over thirty but under forty, 12 
between forty and fifty, and only 4 over fifty 
years of age. Four members had been in Cali- 
fornia only four months ; nine had been there 
one year or less. 

There is pretty good evidence that Gwin 
went to the convention with the purpose of 
becoming its president and thus guiding its de- 
liberations, but the native Cahfornians and sev- 
eral of the pronounced antislavery men had 
strong prejudice against him, and Robert Sem- 
ple, a typical Western backwoodsman, who 
was equally ready with the rifle and the prin- 
ter's stick, was chosen to preside. Captain 
Marcy,who had arrived with Stevenson's New 
York regiment, was elected secretary, and J. 
Ross Browne, who in later years gained fame 
on the coast as humorist and traveler, was ap- 
pointed ofiTicial reporter. Of all the members 
Gwin easily occupies the foremost place. He 
did not speak so often as many others, but, 
like Halleck, what he said had great weight, and 
in nearly every controversy he either carried 
his point or effected a compromise well-nigh 
as advantageous as a victory, A master of the 
arts of the parliamentarian, Gwin was con- 
stantly called upon to exercise his skill, and it 
is no exaggeration to say that his readiness, 
courtesy, suggestiveness, and persuasive powers 
have rarely been surpassed in a deliberative 
body. A careful reading of the debates in this 
convention, aided by the suggestions of sur- 
vivors, proves conclusively that Gwin had the 
settled purpose to secure so large a territory 
for California that Congress would feel bound 
to divide it. He was too shrewd a poHtician 
to hope to commit the new territory to slav- 
ery. The spirit shown at public meetings of 
settlers and miners which he had attended 
proved that slavery would not be tolerated. 
Hence instead of pressing the slavery issue, 
he devoted his energies to securing the best 
ultimate advantages foj the slave-holding 
States. California had a coast line of over five 
hundred miles, and her territory was popularly 
supposed to extend to the Rocky Mountains. 
What was more .simple and logical than to 
secure the admission of this immense domain 
as free territory and then persuade Congress 
to divide it, giving the southern half — the 
lion's share — to slavery? Division on no 
other than lateral lines seemed feasible at that 
time, as the great central region was regarded 
as a desert. A new State must possess a coast 
line, and the most natural division was on 
the historic parallel of 36° 30' — that color 
line . that was drawn with such monotonous 
regularity by Calhoun and his followers. In 
this work Gwin betrayed masterly political 



manipulation. He made an easy conquest of 
Butler King and Halleck, and these allies 
he used to win over the suspicious native Cal- 
ifornians. It was not difficult to prove to 
them that they would be benefited by the erec- 
tion of Southern California into a new terri- 
tory, distinct from the North. Then, as now, 
it was a plausible argument that the southern 
half of the country diftered so materially from 
the northern part as to demand a separate gov- 
ernment. The Californians were quick to see 
that in the North their pohtical supremacy was 
clear gone — swept away by the thousands of 
gold hunters. Gwin shrewdly intimated that 
the policy backed by the representative of the 
Administration must be the winning one, and 
that the men who aided King and himself in 
getting the admission of the whole Western 
territory could depend upon recompense in 
legislation that would lighten the burden of 
taxation and secure them in possession of their 
royal grants of land, measured not by miles, 
but by leagues. The Cahfornians had every- 
thing to gain by this alliance, while on the 
other hand the settlers who opposed the ad- 
mission of so vast a territory had nothing to 
offer them. It was to the strongest sentiments 
of human nature that Gwin appealed, and his 
success seemed a foregone conclusion. That 
he failed to carry his point in the convention 
was due mainly to the superb fight made by 
Charles T. Botts, a Virginian, aided by the 
firm backing of the old settlers, Semple, Hast- 
ings, Shannon, McDougall, Snyder, and others. 
Twice Gwin obtained a majority for his plan. 
On the second occasion, when the measure 
passed the house, having been previously 
adopted in committee of the whole, the most 
exciting scene of the convention ensued. Mc- 
Carver, an old Oregon pioneer, moved for im- 
mediate and final adjournment, crying out pas- 
sionately, " We have done enough mischief." 
Snyder shouted, " Your constitution is gone ! 
Your constitution is gone ! " For a few mo- 
ments it looked as though the convention had 
hopelessly split upon this rock, but finally an 
adjournment was secured to the following day, 
when, after long debate, the boundary was fixed 
as it stands to-day, with the Sierra Nevada and 
the Colorado as the eastern line, with the great 
central desert, to be formed later into Nevada, 
Utah, and Arizona.^ 

The constitution adopted by the convention 
was one that did good service for thirty years, 
until the Kearney agitation swept it away in 
a great outburst of popular feeling against 
railway and land monopolies, which, gather- 
ing force for years, was brought to a head by 
the cynical defiance of a few powerful corpo- 

1 For an account of how this was done see " Cali- 
forniana " in this number of The Century. — Editor. 



IfOir C.l/./FD A\\7A CAMh I .\ I O 77//: I'N/OX. ygj 

rations and a small (li(iue of millionaires who I'io I'iro, the last Mexican povemor of Cali- 

fancied they owned the State. The constitu- fornia, was the ablest. He made the best 

tion was largely drawn from that of New York, speeihes, and seemed to have the clearest ap- 

with some provisions by the then recently prehension of the great change that had come 

adopted constitution of Iowa. What will strike over the country and of the new measures 

any reader of the debates is tiie strong desire that were needed. Morepopular than any of his 

of the members to secure the rights of settlers Californian as.sociates was (ieneral M. Ci. Val- 

and the eipially strong wish to make educa- Icjo, the lord of an enormous estate in the So- 

tion as free and as thorough as possible. 'I'wo noma Valley, stretching from San I'ablo Hay for 

sections in each townshii) were .set apart as forty miles up the beautiful valley. His sister had 

.school lands, seventy-two sections for a univer- married Jacob P, Leese, an early pioneer, and 

sity, as well as five per cent, of the proceeds \'aIIejo always ])rofessed the warmest admira- 

of the sale of all public lands. .Scmj)le and tion for the Americans. Kven the ruile treat- 

.McCarver, both self-made men, who came up ment he received from the Hear Klag ])arty 

from the people, and who therefore placed a did not sour his temper. Like Sutter, he had 

high value on free education, made elo(iucnt a magnificent opportunity to take a foremost 

pleas for a liberal school fund. Semple argued place in the aftairs of the new territory ; but he 

that California could have a university eijual was formed for the life he had led for forty 

to any ai)road, as she had the gold-dust to years, — the pleasant lifeof a landed gran<lee. — 

pay for " talent," and he naively added, "We and he had neither the energy nor tlie mental 

can bring the president of Oxford University suppleness to adapt himself to the new regime, 

here by offering a sufficient salary." To Vallejo, however, belongs the great credit 

Another amusing feature was furnished by of using his large inthience to persuade his fel- 

the discu.ssion over the seal of the new State. low-Califomians to accept the new govem- 

Kvery interest wished to be rej^resented, but ment cheerfully, and to do all in their power to 

the old settlers were determined to have the strengthen the hands of the conservative men 

griz/ly bear in the foreground. This naturally who he .saw clearly formed the only hope of 

excited Vallejo, who had suffered at the hands safety from wholesale spoliation of land and 

of the liear Flag party, and he grimly sug- herds. 

geste<l that Ursus of the Sierra have a lasso Long before the convention was over candi- 
about his neck. The debate ended in the dates for office had announced themselves, and 
adoption of the well-known design — Minerva, the first political campaign in California had be- 
type of the entrance of California full grown gun. From all accounts it was as unique as the 
into the Union, with the grizzly at her feet; other features of State-making. Teter H. Hur- 
wheat-sheaf and vine, the miner and his tools, nett, who was then Chief-justice of the Su- 
represented the leading industries; while the ]>reme Court appointed by (ieneral Riley, was 
background was the bay of San Francisco the most prominent candidate lor governor, 
framed in by the Sierra Nevada, and over all his opponents being W. S. Sherwood, a New 
the magic word, " Eureka." York lawyer ; Captain Sutter; Geary, the pop- 
One of the men who worked hard in the ular last alcalde of San Francisco; and WW- 
convention, but who has received little credit liam M. Stewart, who had l)een prominent in 
for his labor from the historians, was Captain the work of securing a State convention. (Iwin 
Halleck, the governor's secretary and his rep- and Fremont were the leading candidates for 
resentative in the debates, (iovernor Riley the United States Senate. All started <nit on 
made no attempt to influence the convention, electioneering tours that extended into many of 
but Halleck was tacitly understood to s|)eak the new mining camps. The Argonauts of 1849 
for him. Halleck had great legal ability, and in the remote camps had cavalier methods of 
he drafted the excellent public j)apers that settling the claims of candidates, A man who 
Riley issued. He also prei)ared an excellent " put on style " was sure to be defeated. .\ 
digest of the Mexican laws for the use of "boiled" shirt could be tolerated, but not a 
Americans. He spoke fre(|uently in the con- silk hat, and there were grave doubts about 
vention and always to the point, and no sur- the honesty of a candidate who ditl not chew 
vivor of that body fails to declare that his tobacco or take his li(|uor like a man. Hur- 
judgment was sound and that his services were nett's great claim to popularity lay in his cham- 
mvaluable because of his intimate knowledge pi()nshi|)of the settlers' rights,his rigid honesty, 
of the country. Some recognition of his merit and his knowledge of the law. He had some 
has been made by the erection of a statue to anui>ing adventures on his tour of the mines 
his memory in Golden Gate Park, San I'ran- that would have discouraged any one except 
CISCO. a pioneer. At Mud Springs, in the heart of a 
Of the native Californiansin the convention, rich placer-mining country, the ])roprietor of 
Carrillo, who haii been a valued adviser of the canvas hotel honored his guest with the best 



?88 



HOW CALIFORNIA CAME INTO THE UNION. 



bed in his big lodging-tent, and the weary can- 
didate hoped for sweet and refreshing sleep, 
but during the night rain fell in torrents, the 
wind arose, tore away the fastenings of the 
tent, and the structure collapsed. The guests 
were forced to hug the main pole with the 
loose canvas flapping about them and the rain 
beating without. Of this unhappy town the 
writer has a vivid recollection in 1857, when 
very heavy rain swelled the creek that formed 
the center of the main street, and the floors 
of all the shops and houses were two feet un- 
der water. Many of the miners regarded the 
election as a huge joke. A typical instance of 
the way miners voted was recorded at the 
lower bar of the Mokelumne River. One fel- 
low, who had voted a straight ticket, gave his 
reasons over the bar in the saloon in this orig- 
inal fashion : " When I left home I was bound 
to ' go it blind.' I did go it bhnd in crossing 
to Cahfornia, and I 'm not going to stop now. 
I voted for the constitution, and I 've never 
seen the constitution. I voted for all the can- 
didates, and I don't know a d d one of 'em. 

I 'm going it blind all through — I am ! " 

The first election resulted in a small vote. 
Three-quarters of the American miners did 
not leave their tents to go to the polls. The 
Mexicans and native Californians took con- 
siderable pride in casting their first ballot, 
though in later years they have not betrayed 
any keen interest in politics, and they have 
never held the balance of power which early 
observers feared because of their numerical 
majority. Burnett was elected governor, re- 
ceiving 67 16 votes; his next competitor, Sher- 
wood, getting 3188, and Sutter 2301. On the 
15th of December, 1849, the first legislature 
met at San Jose, that city having secured the 
honor of the State capitol by guaranteeing to 
furnish suitable buildings. The conditions were 
found even more primitive than at Monterey. 
The Capitol buildmg was a rude, unfurnished 
wooden structure. The Assembly, composed 
of thirty-six members, succeeded in using the 
large upper chamber, but for several weeks the 
sixteen senators were forced to meet at a pri- 
vate residence. Five days after the first meet- 
ing Governor Burnett was installed. General 
Riley having on the same day resigned his 
powers as governor. Despite the discomforts 
and the lack of all the usual facilities, this first 
California legislature went to work manfully. 
Again was seen the triumph of the pioneer 
over ciixumstances that would have paralyzed 
an older community. The first business was 
the election of United States senators, for it 
was wisely urged that the presence of these 
men at Washington would hasten admission of 
the State. Among the candidates were Butler 
King, the eccentric Administration agent ; Fre- 



mont, about whom was the glamour of border 
adventure and who was generally regarded as 
the Bear Flag hero ; Gwin, whose ability had 
been proved in the convention ; Geary, the 
San Francisco alcalde ; Halleck, whose friends 
claimed this reward for his services; and Sem- 
ple, whose aspirations were as "lofty as his 
stature. Fremont was the most popular, partly 
because of his prominent part in the conquest, 
and partly because he was known to have be- 
hind him Senator Benton, a political power 
who could do much for California. Fremont 
was elected on the first ballot and Gwin on the 
second. George W. Wright and Edward Gil- 
bert had been elected representatives. 

It has been common for Californians to re- 
gard this first legislative body as a roistering 
crowd that drank and swore like the troops in 
Flanders. But it must be said that these pioneer 
legislators proved far more industrious than 
any of their successors. They framed in a few 
weeks an excellent body of laws. Although 
they included a few rampant proslavery men, 
they were mainly the old settlers who had 
worked for a State government. One man by 
his horse-play gave to the body the unsavory 
but picturesque title of " The legislature of a 
thousand drinks." This was Thomas Jefferson 
Green, a professional politician who was at- 
tracted to California, like Gwin, Butler King, 
Geary, Broderick, and others, by the hope of 
a good office and political influence. Green 
seemed to look upon the session of the legisla- 
ture as a picnic. He had a room near the 
State House liberally supplied with all kinds 
of drinks, and after every adjournment his 
sonorous voice was heard crying, " Come, 
let 's take a thousand drinks ! " Survivors of 
this legislature declared that Green was a sea- 
soned vessel, and seldom appeared the worse 
for potations that would have put Squire 
Western under the table before midday. Even 
with the inducement of free liquor always on 
tap the drinking was not general. The little 
coterie that Green gathered about him had no 
influence upon the working members. Well 
would it have been for California had every 
succeeding legislature been as honest and as 
efficient as this pioneer body. To these men 
lobbying and the huckstering of votes were 
unknown. They felt deeply their responsi- 
bility to constituents, and they would have re- 
garded the methods of legislative politicians 
of the present time as an insult to common 
decency. 

While the first California legislature was 
wrestlmg with a code of laws for the new 
State the fight over California was renewed in 
Congress with greater bitterness than before. 
President Polk in his message made a strong 
plea for the admission of California. He set 



HOir CATJFORNfA CAME IXTO THE rxiON. 



789 



forth briefly the causes that led the people to 
decide to form a constitution, declared there 
was reason to believe they would soon apply 
for admission as a State, and warned Congress 
against introducing sectional issues that were 
dangerous to the L'nion. Towards the close 
of January, 1850, Henry Clay introduced his 
compromise bill for the admission of California, 
which, though greatly modified, formed the 
ground on which an agreement was finally 
reached after six months of debate. The main 
feature of Clay's plan was that California be 
admitted with suitable boundaries and with- 
out slavery. A sop to the South was a reso- 
lution that the remainder of the land ceded 
by Mexico should be erected into territorial 
governments unhampered by any restrictions 
on slavery. He also introduced clauses for- 
bidding the interference of Congress with the 
slave-trade between tiie States, and calling 
for more eftective enforcement of the fugitive- 
slave law. Clay's compromise, though artfully 
devised, did not accomplish the desired object 
of placating the Southern leaders. Debate 
began immediately upon their introduction. 
Conspicuous among the proslavery men were 
Jefferson Davis and Foote, who argued that the 
Missouri Compromise line should be recog- 
nized throughout the new territory and that 
slavery should be valid below that line. Clay 
vehemently opposed this, holding that the peo- 
ple of the Far West should decide for them- 
selves whether they wished to establish slavery ; 
if they chose to introduce it, then he would favor 
the admission of California and New Mexico 
with such slavery provisions in their consti- 
tutions. 

It was at this critical period that (iwin and 
Fremont and the CaHfomia representatives ar- 
rived in Washington. They brought the new 
constitution of California, which President 
Taylor transmitted to Congress with the noti- 
fication that the State would soon apply for 
admission to the Union. A motion was made 
to refer the message to the committee on Ter- 
ritories, but this procedure was more than Cal- 
houn could endure. He was greatly incensed 
over the action of the Californians in prohibit- 
ing slavery, and though merely the shadow of 
his old self, with strength so sjient that he 
could not speak in the Senate, he prepared a 
sjjeech against the admission of California. It 
was read by Mason of Virginia. The gist of 
this address, which proved to be the dying 
utterance of the great proslavery leader, was a 
vigorous attack on the admission of California, 
because its people in assuming to meet in con- 
vention and adopt a constitution had been 
guilty of a revolutionary act. He helil that there 
was no excuse for such open defiance of Con- 
gress, and hence he suggested that California 



be remandcfl to the condition of a Territory, 
To admit her as a State, with this constitution 
just adopted, would be to Ijar out the South 
from the territory acquired from Mexico and 
im])eril the political equilibrium of the sec- 
tions. 

Webster followed in his great speech of 
March 7, second only in its impassioned pas- 
sages to the reply to Hayne. Any j)araphrase 
of its majestic language is flat and common- 
place. It was an eloquent appeal for the free- 
dom of the new territory which the South had 
vainly struggled for in the interests of slavery. 
He clo.sed with the passage against " peace- 
able secession " which has become a classic in 
American literature. 

The California senators, of course, were ap- 
pealed to by the rival leaders, Fremont was 
in favor of anything which Benton championed, 
and Benton was determined to seethe new State 
admitted, even if it led to the civil war that 
Calhoun and Jefferson Davis predicted. Cwin 
was placed in a very embarrassing position, as 
to carry out the desires of his constituents he 
must oppose Calhoun and his party. He had 
a stormv interview with President I'aylor, who 
declared that whether California was admitted 
or not he intended to drive the Texan authori- 
ties out of New Me.xico. Gwin refused to co- 
o])erate with Taylor, which aroused the wrath 
of the old soldier, and the conference ended in 



anger. 



(iwin also had a conference with Calhoun, 
his old master in political arts, who roused his 
dying energies to try to convince his friend 
that the admission of California as a State 
would result in the suj^remacy of the North 
and the rupture of the Union. Gwin was 
greatly impressed with the earnestness of the 
dying statesman and the gloomy jirophecies 
that he maile, but he refuseil to adopt the 
jiolicy decided upon by his jiarty in Congress. 
To escape from his embarrassing position he 
went to New York, but after a short stay he 
was sent for by Henry Clay. In some unpub- 
lished memoranda Gwin has left an interest- 
ing account of this conference. It throws so 
much light on the causes that led to Clay's 
compromise bill that I give a portion of it en- 
tire. He says : 

When the California delegation reached Wash- 
ington and asked for the admisNion of the State into 
the Union, I was in favor of its being acted on as 
a separate and independent measure, and with the 
least practicable delay. I found Mr. Cl.iy, General 
Cass, Mr. Webster, Judge Douglas, and others who 
were the great leaders in Congress at that time, 
in favor of this policy. But afterwards they changed 
their views and ! was sent for by Mr. Clay, who 
gave me the reason. He said he had been called 
upon by members of the House of RepresenLitives 



79° 



HOW CALIFORNIA CAME INTO THE UNION. 



and informed that a sufficient number of tiie mem- 
bers of tiiat body from tiie Soutiiern States to con- 
trol its action liad entered into a solemn compact, 
r which they would execute at the risk of their lives, 
never to permit a bill to pass the House admitting 
California until the right of the South to carry 
their property to the Territories of the United States 
was first guaranteed by law. Mr. Clay was incredu- 
lous ; he thought it impossible for SL:ch a body of 
men to come to so desperate a resolve — which was 
revolution itself. He called for facts, which were 
furnished him ; names also were given, and, if 
necessary to remove all doubts from his mind, it 
was proposed to bring each member who had en- 
tered into this league to his room to make the dec- 
laration to him in person. Mr. Clay said that then, 
for the first time in his life, he thought the Union 
in immediate peril, and that the short remnant of 
days left to him would see it destroyed. He at once 
determined upon the course he would pursue, and 
the first person he consulted was Colonel Benton 
— with whom he had been up to that time acting in 
full concert for the immediate admission of Califor- 
nia into the Union — and my colleague. Colonel Fre- 
mont. The interview lasted for an hour, and he 
exerted all the powers he possessed to induce Colo- 
nel Benton to join him in postponing the admission 
of the State until the question of the territorial gov- 
ernment was settled, but in vain. Colonel Benton 
sternly refused, and Mr. Clay confessed to me that 
he did what he had never done before in his life — 
he implored a fellow-man to do his duty, but all to 
no effect. That was their last interview and inter- 
course in life. Mr. Clay then sought the interview 
with me; and, after stating the case fully, I had no 
doubt of the facts, and told him that 1 never wished 
to see California /b/r^rf into the Union in a revolu- 
tionary way which would destroy its existence, and 
that 1 was willing that the admission of the State 
should be considered in connection with all the 
questions that were then agitating the country. 

In the great debate on Clay's compromise, 
Seward, then coming to the front as a leader, 
made one of the most vigorous speeches. He 
declared that the settlers had shown the proper 
spirit, and that if not granted admission to the 
Union speedily California would be perfecdy 
justified in founding with the other Pacific 
coast States an independent nation. Four days 
after Webster's speech the California delega- 
tion, in response to a demand, presented a 
memorial which reviewed in detail the work 
done in the new State, its great resources, and 
its urgent need of admission to the Union. This 
memorial ignored the slavery issue, but it sim- 
ply added fuel to the partisan flame. To Clay's 
compromise measures were added others by 
Bell of Tennessee, and both sets were referred 
to a special committee. The result was the 
omnibus bill of which, aside from the compro- 
mise features, the admission of California was 
the chief proposition. Again the partisan de- 
bate broke out with increased rancor. Four 
months of wrangling ensued, ending finally in 
the passage of the bill for the admission of Cal- 



ifornia, separated from the compromise reso- 
lutions. On August 1 3, by a vote of thirty-four 
to eighteen, the Senate passed it. Jefferson 
Davis, Mason, and others could not see it 
adopted without a last word, so they i.ssued a 
protest which summed up all the Southern 
hatred of national sanction of the free consti- 
tution of the California settlers. This protest 
had no effect on the lower house, which on 
September 7 also passed the bill, by one hun- 
dred and fifty to lifty-six. On September 9, 
1850, the act was formally approved by Presi- 
dent Fillmore, and within the next two days 
the California delegation was sworn in — not, 
however, without objections from Jefferson 
Davis and his small party of irreconcilables. 
The South had been worsted at every point ; 
but it was a costly victory for the country, for 
a decade later burst out the pent-up tires of 
partisan hatred, whose lurid gleams were seen 
during this long struggle over California. 

The CaHfornia legislature adjourned in April, 
but it was the i8th of October before news 
came of the admission of the State, These six 
months of waiting tired the souls of impatient 
Californians more than all the previous period 
of doubt and uncertainty. Complaints came 
from several of the southern counties of bur- 
densome taxes that would fall upon them should 
Congress admit the whole of California as a 
State. Among Americans, however, the desire 
for statehood was so strong that many openly 
advocated separation from the Union. In no 
other period of their history, perhaps, was the 
self-control of the Americans in California 
more thoroughly proved than in these dreary 
months. Chmate and life, then as now, con- 
spired to rob the settler of patience. He 
yearned to gain fortune or to compass any pur- 
pose at a bound. With a people of less moral 
stamina disunion influences would have pre- 
vailed and the world would have seen the 
fiasco of an independent state on the Pacific 
coast. But that rare judgment and foresight 
which comes with the Anglo-Saxon strain in 
American blood again prevailed. Some of the 
old Bear Flag party emerged again and gave 
vent to their anger in violent language ; but 
these manifestations were merely the froth on 
the surface. Loyalty to the Union before they 
formed an actual part of it was as strong as it 
was eleven years later when Sumter was fired 
on. 

Five weeks after California became a State 
the news reached San Francisco. The Panama 
mail steamer Oregon was sighted one October 
morning by the lookout on Telegraph Hill. 
He rubbed his glasses to make out what had 
transformed her familiar lines. Surely she was 
dressed in all her bunting, and now as she en- 
tered the harbor the rapid discharge of her 



HO IV CALUORXIA CAME I XTO 71 H: C'X/OX. 



79 » 



gun conveyed the lonp-expectc«l news. C)l(l 
pioneers cannot speak with iinmoistened eyes 
of the scene that followed. Nerves had l)een 
strung to so high a tension that the rebound 
demanded violent exercise. The whole city 
swarmed to the water front and the hills around 
it. Merchants rushed to close their stores as 
they did on that other day, sad and long to 
he remembered, when the news came over 
the wires that Lincoln was assassinated. By a 
common impulse every one ran to the old 
I'laza. There were cheers, shouts, ringing of 
bells, blowing of whistles, and booming of guns. 
Provident passengers who brought copies of 
New York newspapers sold them readily for 
live dollars a co|)y. At night the young city 
was ablaze with bonfires, illuminations, and 
rockets. 

Hy steamer, stage, and j)()ny exi)ress the 
news was carried to all parts of the State. 
( )n many roads there was keen opposition be- 
tween rival stage lines, and this led to lively 
races to see which should be the first bearer 
of the welcome news. Crandall was one of 
the pioneer stage drivers who with Foss and 
" Hank " .Monk made a reputation for dare- 
devil skill in handling six-horse teams on bad 
mountain roads. He started for San Jose, the 
morning after the news reached San Francisco, 
with his coach decked with flags. Governor 
iJumett was beside him on the box. Down 
they dashed through the level Santa Clara 
Valley, then one wide tawny plain, unbroken 
by fence or farm-house. IJchind them came 
the rival .stage, its driver urging his Mexican 
mustangs to their utmost speed. As Crandall's 
coach passed the houses on the road all on 
board swung their hats and shouted " Califor- 
nia is admitted to the I'nion ! " and the cheers 
that rounded out this shout were taken up by 
the delighted i)eoi)lc. Kx-Crovemor Ihirnett 
is an old man now, l)ut he grows young again 
when he descril)es this race, full of excitement 
to the very end, when Crandall dashed up to 
the main hotel in San Jose in a cloud of dust, 
like one of the Homeric heroes, the victor in 
one of the hardest stage races ever run in this 
country. 

The formal celebration of the admission was 
held on September 29, and was the first of the 
annual commemorations of the birthday of the 
State that have become a feature of California 
life. San Francisco was young, but it showed 
then that jxassion for picturesque street specta- 
cles which has made its j)arades unique and 
noteworthy. The place of honor in the pro- 
cession was given to the native Californians, 
who had come so cordially under the new 
regime. They were well represented by a band 
of young men, superbly mounted and richly 
tlressed, who carried a blue satin banner with 



the inscription in gold letters, " California : 
K riuribus L-num." Ihen came the pioneers ; 
not oUI and bent as to-day, but in the full 
strength of young manhood. They bore a 
banner with the State seal and the inscription, 
" Far West, Fureka, 1846. California I'io- 
neers, organized Augu.st, 1850." The banner 
also bore a device of historical significance — 
a typical Yankee stepping ashore and meeting 
a native Califomian, with serape thrown over 
his shoulder and Ixsso in hand. After the 
army and navy ofliccrs, the Mexican war vet- 
erans, and the civil dignitaries came the unicpie 
feature of the parade — a large company of 
Chinese in gala costume of sky-blue, yellow, 
red, anil brown silk blouses, with flowery skirts 
such as are worn at their annual New Year 
ceremonies, and carrying a blue silken banner 
with the legend, " The China Hoys." Follow- 
ing them came a large car in which were 
seated thirty boys, each representing a State, 
while in the center was a white-robed girl, like 
a fairy in the Christmas jjantomime. upon 
whose gleaming breastplate were the words. 
"California: the Union, it must and shall be 
preserved." The volunteer fire department, 
that had already had one great battle with a 
fire that well-nigh swept the city off the sand 
dunes, turned out in great force on the Plaza. 
There were the usual exercises — an oration and 
a poem that fired the patriotic heart. 

Forty years seems a brief period in pas- 
toral California, where the hand of time moves 
as slowly as in the lanil of the Aztecs : but in 
California as a State it has seen marvelous 
changes. The young Califomian has been ac- 
cused of lack of reverence. The climate makes 
him precocious, and he has a keen eye for the 
material side of life ; yet withal he has a large 
fund of sentiment. an«l no South Carolinian m 
the days befi)re the war was ever prouder of the 
Palmetto State than is theyouthful Califomian 
of this commonwealth, whose birth marke<l a 
period of national travail that ended only 
with the freedom of four million slaves. A 
touch of ])rovincialism there is in this State 
pride, for to most of these younger men the 
blue line of the Sierras is the eastem boundary 
of the only world they know ; yet their perfect 
confiflence in everything Califomian is. in its 
wav, a source of strength. To Ceneral A. M. 
Winn first came the idea of a union of the 
young men bom in California, in order to per- 
petuate the memor)- of the founders of the 
State. The society, formed at his suggestion 
in 1875, under the rather florid name of " Na- 
tive Sons of the C.olden West." liegan with a 
roll of twenty-unc members. Its purposes fi)und 
favor ; tlie 9th of September — the annivcr- 
san,- of the admission of Califomia to the 
Union — was made a legal holid.iv through- 



792 



CALIFORNIANA. 



out the State ; every year has seen it observed 
by the Native Sons, who have increased in 
fifteen years to 8000 members. 

l"he New England Society of California 
Pioneers visited San Francisco last May, and 
the old men looked vainly for landmarks that 
they could identify in a city which has sprawled 
over miles of sand dunes and has neared the 
Golden Gate. San Francisco's growth in these 
forty years is typical of the enormous progress 
of California. Changed is the old order of 
mining life, gone forever the supremacy of the 
pioneer gold hunter with pan and rocker; but 
in his place is the scientific mining engineer, 
using machinery that is the wonder of the 
world ; the wheat-grower, whose steam plow 



turns a mile long furrow and whose harvest 
hands camp at night in the vast fields over 
which they move ; the fruit-grower, who has 
made the level valleys and even the steep foot- 
hills smile with fruitage of orange, lemon, fig, 
grape, and apricot ; and, best of all, the tiller of 
small farm and orchard, who is proving that in 
this Italy of the far West may be seen the ideal 
country life, with work out-of-doors which re- 
fined women may share in without risk of 
coarsening their hands or their natures. Cali- 
fornia to-day, with its thoroughly American 
people, of tireless energy and equally great self- 
control, is the best monument to the wisdom of 
the pioneers who laid the foundations of its 
statehood. 

George Hamlin Fitch. 



CALIFORNIANA. 



Light on the Seizure of California. 

WITHIN the last few years much has been done by 
localhistorians, notably by Mr. H. H. Bancroft's 
collaborators, to clear up the mysteries that used to ob- 
scure the story of the seizure of California by our naval 
forces in 1846. The present note intends to offer one 
additional scrap of information bearing upon the mat- 
ter. By way of introduction I shall venture to summa- 
rize, in unoriginal fashion, the now well-ascertained 
facts concerning the naval capture of California, leaving 
aside wholly any detailed discussion of evidence until 
1 come to my one additional piece of evidence itself. 

The Polk Cabinet, as is well known, planned the 
Mexican war for some time before it broke out. They 
devoted, of course, much attention to the best way of 
obtaining possession of the Mexican " Department of 
U])per California," a province \\hich was not only very 
sparsely inhabited, but which also had a very loose 
connection with the mother country, and a very imper- 
fect sense of loyalty to the central government, so that 
its seizure, whenever hostilities should break out, 
seemed to be no very difficult matter. In the Sacra- 
mento Valley were already a few hundred American 
settlers. Our recently appointed consul at Monterey, 
Thomas O. Larkin, a shrewd Yankee trader, who had 
done business on the coast for a number of years, was 
in intimate personal relations with several prominent 
public men among the Californians. He wrote fre- 
quently and voluminously to the State Department, 
trying to convince his official chiefs that the Californians 
were distracted by their own petty provincial political 
quarrels, that they had little feeling for the central 
Mexican government but jealousy or dread ; and that, 
with some care, the land could be won away from Mex- 
ico, on the breaking out of the war, by the consent of 
the Californians themselves, and without bloodshed. 
In consequence of these representations the Cabinet 
instructed Commodore Sloat, in command of the Pacific 
squadron, to hold himself in readiness for the first news 
of hostilities, and then, without delay, to proceed to 
California, to seize Monterey and San Francisco, and 
to invite the Californians to change their allegiance. 



Beyond the actual seizure of the defenseless ports, 
which his overwhelming force might be expected to 
accomplish without any collision of arms, he was in- 
structed to show no violence, and to do everything in 
his power to conciliate the inhabitants, and to "encour- 
age them to adopt a course of neutrality." "It is ru- 
mored," said Secretary Bancroft in one later communi- 
cation, " that the province of California is well disposed 
to accede to friendly relations. . . . You will take such 
measures as will best promote the attachment of the 
people of California to the United States." 

Meanwhile, with the same purpose in mind, the 
Government sent to Larkin, in October, 1845, a secret 
despatch, which was committed to memory by a special 
agent, Lieutenant Archibald Gillespie, and so carried 
by him across Mexico for oral delivery. A written du- 
plicate of this despatch was sent around the Horn on 
one of the naval vessels bound for the Pacific. Both 
Gillespie's oral version of his secret instructions, as 
taken down from dictation at Monterey, and the dupli- 
cate afterwards received by Larkin, are now extant, 
and agree down to one or two very slight verbal dif- 
ferences. The despatch instructed Larkin and Gillespie 
to cooperate in an intrigue intended to win over the 
Californians, who, even in case the outbreak of the 
war should be delayed, were to be induced, if possible, 
to declare their independence of Mexico, and were to 
be assured of the support of our Government in any 
such action. 

It is perfectly sure that the instructions of the Gov- 
ernment in no wise contemplated or authorized any re- 
volt of the American settlers in the Sacramento Valley 
against the Californians, or any employment of force 
beyond the already mentioned seizure of the wholly 
defenseless ports by Sloat upon the receipt of news of 
actual war. As is well known, however. Captain Fre- 
mont's exploring party was at the time of Gillespie's 
arrival still within the territory of California. Fre- 
mont had come during the winter, and had requested 
permission of the authorities at Monterey to rest his 
party " on the frontier of the department." A contro- 
versy which had grown up out of this request, and 
which had been in large measure provoked by mem- 



CALIFORMAXA. 



793 



bers of I'"ri-monl's parly, ha<l led ('a-.tro, a^ I'rcfcct 
of Norllicrn California, to order Fremont out of the 
(lepartiiicnt altogether. After considerable waiting 
and defiance Fremont had begun to ol>ey the order, 
going northward through the Sacramento Valley, (id- 
lespie arrived at Monterey on .\|»ril 17, 1S46, and after 
delivering his instructions to Larkin |)roceeded to fol- 



vanccd, exce|)t the actui! presence of Seymour on the 
coxst as describcil. NunibericNS arc the mutually in- 
consistent and wholly worthies-, talcs that have iHren 
lo|<l about incidents before, during, anri after the 
"race." Many of these tales arc ordinary family le- 
gends, narrated by relatives of this or that ofTiccr con- 
cerned. \ decidedly careful exaniin.ition of several 



low up Fremont, in order to .acquaint him with the of them has convinced me, as it would convince any 



Government plans, and to deliver to him private letters 
from the nentoii family. Gillespie actually overtook 
Fremont in the Klamath region. This act of Gilles- 
pie's was indeed part of his official mission, but there 
can be no doubt that the only instructions which he 
had to convey to F'remonl were the ones already made 
known to Larkin, namely, to cooperate in a peaceful in- 
trigue for the purpose of inducing the Caiifornians to 
leave the Mexican allegiance, and be ready for our for- 
mal seizure of the territory. 

Fremont, however, who had his o\\ n personal inter- 
ests to consider, and who had already fpiarreled with 
Castro, now unfortunately decided ujion a course of 
action directly contrary to the instructions, trusting 
apparently to the nearness of the Mexican war itself to 
shield him against all the consequences of his disobe- 
dience. His trust was well placed ; for he has ever 
since been popularly regarded as the chief servant of 
his country in the winning of California. He even in- 
duced Gillespie to cooperate with him. What they diil 
was to return southward into the Sacramento Valley 
and stir up the .\merican settlers to the well-known 
" Hear P'lag " revolt, a movement which was brought 
about through flagrant misrepresentations of the pur- 
poses and hostile preparations of the Califurnian lead- 
ers, and which was a wholly unprovoked assault upon 
a peaceable people. That it led immediately to but 
little bloodshed was due to the fortunate fact that, be- 
fore it had gone far, Sloat appeared at .Monterey with 
news of the outbreak of war and seized the ports. 
.Meanwhile it is ceitain that the whole Bear Flag 
aflfair was a distinct hindrance to the successful seizure 
of California, and to the later pacification of the prov- 
ince ; and that the chief mover in this affair, in all his 
hostile acts up to July 7, when .Sloat raised the Ameri- 
can flag, is to be credited only with having wrought 
mischief, endangered .American interests, and diso- 
beyed his instructions. 

Sloat, meanwhile, who had been waiting at Mazatlan 
for news of the outbreak of war on the Rio Grande, 
went through a series of experiences which have since 
led to numerous legends. Near him, on the Mexican 
coast, W.TS the F.nglish flag-ship Col/itit;:..'<Vii, with Ail- 
miral Seymour on Ixiard. .An understanding grew up 
among the American officers, cither at that time or 
later, that Seymour was wailing, like Sloat, for news 
of hostilities on tht Rio Grande, and that he no doubt 
had instructions " to take California under Fnglish pro- 
tection," as the thing is usually stated, as soon as war 
should breakout. When .Seymour appeared in Mon- 
terey Hay, some two w eeks later than the dale of Sloal's 
arrival, and when after one week's st.ay, and after the 
interchange of the customary courtesies, the English 



impartial person, of their insignificance. They are 
usually in the most obvious conflict with known dates 
ami with known events. 

The facts themselves, so far as they arc known, are 
as follows (compare the ■ written by one of 

H. H. IJancrofi's ablest ■ a.>rs, Mr. Henry I,. 

Oak, in Bancroft's " California," Vol. ,\VII. of the 
"History of the Pacific States," p. 205 sfq.): Sloat 
heard of hostilities on the Rio Grande as early as .May 
17. But the commodore showed himself throughout this 
whole affair a timid and irresolute man, so far as con- 
cerned the fulfilment of his very explicit instructions ; 
for he waited in entire inactivity until May 31, when he 
heard further news, this time of (icner.Tl Taylor's bat- 
tles of the 8th and 9th. He then decided that this must 
mean that " outbreak of war " w hich his instructions 
conlem|)latcd. I le .accordingly wrf>te to .Secretary Ban- 
croft, " I have received such intelligence as I think 
will justify my acting upon your order — and shall sail 
immediately to see what can be done." Hereupon, 
however, Sloat actually did nothing, and remainetl 
where he was untd June 5, when the news came of 
the capture of .Matamoras. Even such startling evi- 
dence of the reality of the war only led Sloat to write 
on June 6 to Bancroft, " I have upon mature reflec- 
tion come to the conclusion that your instructions will 
not justify my taking possession of California, or any 
hostile measures against Mexico." .And, to cap the cli- 
max of this irresolution, the log of Sloat's ship, the 
Siivanna/i, contains as the entry of the next d.ay," June 
7. — News received of the blockade of Vera Cruz by 
the American squ.ndron ; at 2 v. M. got under way for 
Monterey." 

Nor was Sloat's luiiid much relieved when, on 
July 2, he reached Monterey. Here, of course, he 
learned how the Bear Flag had thrown everything 
into confusion in the north. Both I^irkin, who w.as 
perplexed by Fremont's disregard of known instruc- 
tions, and Sloat, who was now looking to I^arkin's in- 
structions for new light, were for some days in iloubt 
as to what was to be done. .At length, July 7, .^loat 
made his decision, landed his forces, and took posses- 
sion of the port. The seizure of San Francisco Bay 
and the occupation of sever.xl points in the interior 
immediately followed. Commmlore Stockton, arrixing 
July 15, relieved Sloat at the latter s request, and 
after an interview with Fremont, who reached Monte- 
rey w ith the " Bears " on July 19, the new naval com- 
mander decided to seize the southern towns and 
harlxirs as well, and to proceed, in as im|>crious and 
hostile a spirit as possible, to the entire subjugation of 
the country. The result of this new policy of official 
hostility to the very inhabitants whom all the .Amcri- 



flagship sailed away again, the tradition gained ground can oflficers had Ix'cn instructed to " conciliate " was 

that there had lieen a "race," and that, in case Seymour the arousing of such bitterness that in the following 

had come in first, theterritory of California would have winter a revolt occurred in the south, much unneces- 

passed into Fnglish possession. Forthiswholetr.idition sary blo^nl was spilled, and the seeds of permanent 

no reasonable and truthful evidence has ever been ad- hatred between the Calil'ornians and their conquerors 
V<ji.. XI,. — 104. 



794 



CALIFORNIANA. 



were sown. But of the events later than July this note 
need not further treat. 

We have now seen how speedily Sloat did his share 
of the " racing " with Seymour. It remains to examine 
Seymour's share in the same international contest. In 
favor of the supposed English scheme for the seizure 
of California in 1846 there is, as I have said above, no 
known evidence whatever, except the actual presence 
of Seymour on the coast. I say this after long and 
diligent search for such evidence, and I venture to defy 
any one to produce any other but legendary testimony 
for this favorite element in all the legends of the con- 
quest of California. Seymour was probably on the 
Mexican coast to watcli our fleet with special reference 
to the Oregon complications, whose settlement was 
not made known in these remote regions until a time 
later than this. The stories have placed the Colling- 
wood, during the time of waiting for the " race," some- 
times at San Bias, sometimes at Mazatlan, where she 
lay " alongside " Sloat's Savannah. Anxious to get 
what information I could about the Collingwood^ s 
actual movements, I sometime since asked Mr. Clem- 
ents R. Markham, the well-known traveler and histo- 
rian, to give me further advice. He courteously took 
considerable trouble to aid me. Why he could do so 
with particular success will appear from the following 
letter, which, with his inclosure, I now print as my 
additional piece of evidence. It has before been re- 
ferred to by me in an article in the " Nation," but has 
not before been quoted in full. 

21 EccLESTON Square, S. W. 
LoNnoN, 20 May. 1887. 
My Dear Mr. Royce : I have just finished reading 
your " California." ... I was particularly interested in 
the pages devoted to a discussion of Admiral Seymour's 
proceedings at Monterey, because, as I tliink I told you, 
I was then serving as a very young midshipman on board 
the Colllngwood. I believed your conclusions to be cor- 
rect ; but, to make certain, I referred the matter to' the 
present Admiral Lord Alcester, who was then Lieutenant 
Beauchamp Seymour, and flag-lieutenant to his uncle on 
board the Collingwood . I inclose a copy of what he has 
written to me on the subject, and whicli he says you are 
at liberty to make any use of you see fit. 
Ever yours, very truly, 

Clements R. Markham. 

[Inclosure.] 

From Admiral Lord Alcester to Mr. Clem- 
ents Markham. 

19 May, 1887. 

Mr. Royce .... is perfectly correct in his surmises. 
There is not one word of truth in the statement to which 
he alludes, for I know for certain that Sir George Seymour 
never had orders to hoist the English flag in California, 
or to assume the protectorate of that dependency of Mex- 
ico in 1846, or at any other time. Neither was there a 
race between him and Commodore Sloat as to who would 
reach Monterey first. If we had wanted to precede the 
Savannah there we should not have begun by going in 
an opposite direction for several days. For I see by my 
journal that we left Mazatlan (where the Savannah 
was) on the 24th of May, 1846, arrived at San Bias, 
which is to the southward, on the 27th, did not leave San 
Bias until June 13, and arrived at Monterey on July 16. 
Sir George Seymour treated me with confidence on pub- 
lic matters, and I was completely au fait of all quesdons 
with which he had to deal, and of the orders he received. 

We went to California to protect English commerce 
and interests, having heard of the proceedings of the 
party which hoisted the so-called " Bear Flag." As to 
what Sir George Seymour is suggested to have said to 
American naval officers as a harmless jest after dinner, 
it is simply impossible. Fancy him, of all men in the 
world, a preux chevalier of the old school, and who was 



sobriety itself, taking American officers into his confi- 
dence and telling them what he never would have told 
to his own captains even. 

As for what the foregoing letter proves, it must be 
remembered that when the Collingwood left Mazatlan 
to sail south, on May 24, news of the first hostilities 
had been in Sloat's hands for one week, and that 
when Seymour left San Bias, June 13, Sloat was 
already six days out of Mazatlan. It is impossible 
that Seymour should not have been advised of the 
hostilities on the Rio Grande before so late a date. 
Lord Alcester uses terms in his, not in our sense, 
when he calls the news that decided Seymour to go 
north news of the " Bear Flag " party. This news 
must have referred to the earlier quarrel of Fremont 
and Castro, which, of course, an English observer 
would not easily distinguish from the American set- 
tlers' revolt that followed. 

I need hardly say in closing how much I feel in- 
debted to Mr. Markham for this piece of information, 
which would have saved us many false reminiscences 
if it had been known to our own histories thirty or 
more years ago. 

Cambridge, Mass. Josiah Royce. 

The California Boundary Question in 1849. 

Understanding me to have been personally con- 
nected with the organization of the State government 
of California, The Century has honored me by ask- 
ing whether I could furnish any fresh matter " from 
the inside " relating to that important event. 

My connection with it was simply as a delegate from 
San Francisco to the Constitutional Convention held 
at Monterey in July, 1849, under a proclamation issued 
by Brigadier-General Riley, U. S. A., the acting gov- 
ernor of California. Most of the important debates 
were in committee of the whole, in which I usually 
presided as chairman, and, in that capacity, I had the 
honor of putting the question on the clause prohibiting 
" slavery or involuntary servitude " in the new State, 
and of announcing a unanimous vote in its favor. 
Some of the delegates were from Southern States ; but 
Dr. WiUiam M. Gwin, from Mississippi, under whose 
guidance they evidently acted, and who had openly pro- 
claimed his intention of being elected a United States 
senator from the new State, was too shrewd a politician 
to risk, by a pro-slavery vote of himself or of his friends, 
a defeat in his senatorial campaign. A decided majority 
of the people on whose votes he depended had come 
from Northern States, and would presumably oppose 
the admission of slavery. 

I regret to state that, owing to the constant pressure 
of professional business in San Francisco from 1848 
to 1853, I had no time or opportunity to inform myself 
as to any of those " inside " facts and influences that 
go to make up Vhistoire incdite of every important po- 
liticalevent; but I recollectdistinctly one incident which, 
though in some degree personal to myself, may be 
thought to be not devoid of interest. 

It was in the last days of the Convention. Every 
clause of the constitution had been fully debated and 
agreed to in committee of the whole and reported to 
the Convention, where the entire constitution had been 
read twice and finally adopted on the third reading. 

But a terrible blunder had been committed. Cali- 
fornia, as part of the territory of Mexico, extended to 



CAI.irORXlAXA. 



795 



tlic Rocky Mountain-., ami ihc last article ot ihc con- 
stiliitinn hail made the Rocky Mountains, instca<l of 
the Sierra Nevada, the eastern houndary of llie new 
Slate. Tliis extravagant claim had not l)cen started 
until a !>hort time In-fore tlie close of the debates, it 



territory ns the Riicky Mountains iMiuTidary would 
give us, in view of the tierce anil |)crsistent o|)posiiion 
it would encounter from the Southern memln-rs in 
Congress. I was aftcrwarrls warndy complimente<l for 
nty speech ; l)ut I ha\e never taken any crc<lit to my- 



l)eing apparently taken for granted that the State self for it, well knowing that whatever there may have 



would claim oidy to the Sierra Nevada. IJeforc the 
final vote on the Rocky Mountains l>oundary line, the 
irticle had met with vigorous opposition on the part of 
some of the wiser heads in the Convention, but it hail 
passed, nevertheless, by a decideil majority. I was af- 
terwards informed that this boundary line had been 
ailoplerl at the instigation of the cli<iuc of members 
from the Southern States, with the view to a subsequent 
division of California by an east-and-west line into two 
large Stales, each having its share of the Pacific coast ; 
and further, to the future organization of the southern 
of these two States as a slave State — an event that 
would be quite certain, inasmuch as most of the set- 
tlers in that part of California had come, and would 
continue to come, from the South or Southwest. Thus 
the new free State would be offset by a new slave State. 

But the deed was done, and it was apparently ir- 
revocable. The final vole on the boundary article had 
been taken and it h.id become a part, of the constitu- 
tion. No member that had voted with the majority 
had movcil for a reconsideration, and no one of the 
minority had thought of changing his vote in order to 
enable him to move for such reconsideration. What 
was to be done ? 

For a considerable lime I had been subject to periodi- 
cal attacks of nervous sick headache caused by malarial 
exposure during the Mexican war. For three days I 
had been ill in bed with one of these attacks, which 
was of uncommon violence, when, to my surprise, I 
was visiteil by two members of the Convention, with a 
message that I must go there without a monrent's de- 
lay, as another and decisive vote was about lobe taken 
on the boundary question. I protested in vain my in- 
ability to do any speaking, or even to rise from my 
bed. They insisting, I swallowed a formidable dose 
of lauilanum, anil in a few minutes its quitting effect 
enabled me to rise and drcss and accontpany them to 
the Convention. On the way I was informed that the 
friends of the other boundary line had hit upon an in- 
genious device by which the battle might still be won, 
and which was this: the Rocky Mountains boundary 
article, it was true, had had its final passage on the 
thinl reading, hut the fole to em^ross it had yet to be 
taken. In other words, substantially, the convention 
had not yet voted to authenticate the article as a part 
of the constitution, without which vote it would have 
no practical o|>eration. It is true that when a bill has 
l)een passe<l on a third reading the vole to engross 
usually follows, of course, as a mere matter of form. 
Hut the ground was taken that it is not necessarily so, 
and in the present case there was some ho|>e that 
were the motion to engross opposed, the sol)cr second 
thought of some of the more intelligent members that 
had voted for the article would impel them to come 
to the rescue antl help to defeat it. The Convention 
on our arrival was in the midst of a very excited de- 
bate, but I was soon able to obtain the floor. .As to 
what I said I have not the slightest recollection, except 
that I dwelt earnestly on the improbability of the ad- 
mission of a new free State covering such an imn»ense 



been effective in it was due to the influence of the 
narcotic I had taken. 

To conclude : the motion to engross was defeated, 
and .Article XII. as it now stamls, making the Sierra 
Nevada substantially the eastern boundary of the State, 
was afterwards introduced and adopted. 

POSTSCRIPT. 

I HAVE read carefully, and with great interest, the 
article by Mr. G. H. Fitch entitled " How California 
came into the Union," and can vouch for its general 
accuracy. Of most of the facts state<l I had personal 
knowledge. But in justice to the " Legislative Assem- 
bly of San Francisco " {i/uoriini fnirs J'ui) let me add a 
few words. 

It is true, as stated, that General Riley issued a proc- 
lamation declaring it to have " usurped powers vested 
only in Congress." 

Under -Mexican law, the pueblo of San Francisco 
extended from San Francisco to San Jose, a distance 
of fifty miles, more or less, and its governing body was 
the "ayuntamiento." In the spring of 1S49 there were 
two distinct ayuntamientos, each claiming to be the 
rightful one. The result of this state of things was, of 
course, virtual anarchy. Tiicre seemed to be no near 
prospect of any action by Congress to give us a legiti- 
mate government. Under these circumstances the peo- 
ple of that district, not recognizing any <vr;7 authority 
as residing in General Riley, deemed themselves en- 
titled to frame some sort of a government for the pro- 
tection in the mean time of their lives and property. 
They accordingly established a provisional one, con- 
sisting of a legislative assembly (in which I had the 
honor to preside as spcaker\ three magistrates, a 
treasurer, and a sheriff. The leading and most able 
meml>er of the assembly was Judge (afterwards Gov- 
ernor) Peter II. Burnett, one of the purest of men, as 
well as a sound lawyer. The instant General Riley's 
proclamation was received, calling for a convention for 
the formation of a State constitution, the assembly is- 
sued an address to the people of California recom- 
mending them to obey it, and then, by its unanimous 
vote, the jirovisional government was dissolved. 

On these f.acts I leave it for your readers to decide 
whether the Legislative .Assembly of San Francisco 
" usurped powers vested only in Congress." 



Washin'ctos, D. C. 



Francis J. l.ippill. 



The Date of the Discovery of the Yoaemite. 

nv ONK op THE PARTV OP t>ISCOVI!IIV. 

In an article written in Maripos.i, California, for 
" Hutchings' California Magazine," at an early day, 
when the events to which the pajjcr related were fresh 
in memory, I stated that the Voscmite V.-illcy was dis- 
covered in March, 1851. I did not fix the day of the 
month, but rememl>ered that the discovery occurred 
during a long-continued rain mi.l -now ^iwrm .it .ilout 



796 



CALIFORNIANA . 



the time of the vernal equinox. That statement was 
verified in writing at the time by James M. Roan and 
George H. Crenshaw, two comrades who with the 
writer were the first white men to enter the valley, and 
who were then members of the California legislature. 
The few members of the Mariposa Battalion who were 
on the first expedition to the mountains and the valley 
were not likely to forget the snow-storms encountered, 
nor the very deep snow through which they passed. 
Major Savage, our commander, had waited at our camp 
in the foothills, knowing that rain below indicated snow 
in the mountains, and that by marching in and through 
the storm we would be most likely to surprise and 
capture the hostile Indians. We made a night march to 
the south fork of the Merced River, and at the summit 
of the Chow-chilla Mountain pass found the snow at 
least four feet deep, but as we descended through the 
dense forest to the stream the snow lessened to a few 
inches in depth. At daylight the storm had ceased, 
but it was renewed at intervals for several days in suc- 
cession. Fortunately we had provided barley for our 
animals, and they did not suffer for lack of forage. 

We captured one Indian village on the left bank of 
the south fork, and crossing over to the right bank 
assembled on a river table now known as Bishop's 
Camp, named for Sergeant Samuel A. Bishop, of San 
Jose, California. This table has a southern exposure 
that does not allow the snow to remain long, but at 
that time, while in camp, the snow covered the ground 
to a depth of three or four inches. 

By advice of Pon-wat-chee, chief of the village cap- 
tured, Indian runners were despatched to bring into 
headquarters the Indians in hiding; but no response 
was made by the Yosemites. Upon a special envoy be- 
ing sent, Ten-ei-ya, their chief, came alone, and stood 
in dignified silence before one of the guard until or- 
dered into camp. Ten-ei-ya was immediately recog- 
nized and was kindly cared for, and after he had been 
well supplied with food Major Savage informed him 
of the orders of the Indian Commission, under which 
we were acting. The old sachem was very suspicious, 
but finally agreed to conduct an expedition into his 
beloved valley. 

Only a few men were required for this service, 
though all volunteered, notwithstanding it had been 
represented that horses might not be able to pass along 
the rocky trail. Finally a foot race was ordered to de- 
termine the fleetness, and consequent fitness, of those 
most anxious to go ; some, in their anxiety to win the 
race, ran barefoot in the snow. 

Led by Ten-ei-ya and Major Savage, the expedition 
started next morning on a trail of lowest altitude, but 
we were compelled to pass through snow from three to 
five feet deep in places, and in a few instances, where the 
snow had drifted, even of greater depth. Only small 
detachments were finally taken by the commanders of 
Companies B and C, Boling's and Dill's, as the trip 
was looked upon as likely to be only an exploration of 
some mysterious canon. The importance of recording 
the date of the discovery of the Yosemite did not im- 
press itself upon my mind at the time, for I became 
completely absorbed in the sublimity of my surround- 
ings. It seemed to me that I had entered God's ho- 
liest temple, where were assembled all that was most 
divine in material creation. For days afterward I could 
only think of the magnificence, beauty, and grace of the 



waterfalls, and of the mountain scenery ; and an almost 
total lack of appreciation of the event on the part of 
Major Savage caused me to think him utterly void of 
sentiment. 

Such experiences were not likely to have been soon 
forgotten, and hence my surprise when I saw in print 
the statement that the Yosemite Valley was first en- 
tered by the Mariposa Battalion on May 5 or 6, 185 1, 
when the rainy reason would have been past. This 
statenient is said to have been officially made by our 
adjutant, and, if so, must refer to the date of our second 
entrance, as our adjutant was not with us on our first 
entrance, or discovery. I have never seen the report 
referred to, but will suggest that if made by our adju- 
tant there should have been no doubt left as to whether 
it was the 5th or 6th of May when he first saw the Yo- 
semite, for an adjutant's report, like a ship's log, should 
be accurate. I do not wish to call in question the mo- 
tives of our officers, but our little squad who first 
entered the valley should have the credit of the dis- 
covery, let it be what it may. 

The cliff now known as El Capitan had been seen by 
the writer from Mount Bullion as early as 1849, but 
nothing could be learned concerning it. After the dis- 
covery we were most positively assured by Ten-ei-ya 
and by other Yosemites that we were the very first 
white men who had ever entered this valley, and that 
it could not have been entered without their knowledge. 
Subsequent observations of Indian methods of placing 
sentinels and wafting signals by smoke confirmed the 
old chiefs statements. Owing to a slight fall of snow 
during the second night of our encampment in the val- 
ley, we left in the morning, fearful of being cut off from 
our base of supplies. 

After a campaign against the Chow-chillas, on the 
San Joaquin,of about six weeks duration, we returned 
to the Yosemite under command of Captain John Bo- 
ling, with a part of Captain William Dill's Company C 
added to our own. Upon this occasion, about the 5th 
of May, 1851, we made the valley our headquarters 
until after the recapture of Ten-ei-ya's band at Lake 
Ten-ei-ya on or about June 5, 185 1. After his sur- 
render in March Ten-ei-ya had escaped. Upon our re- 
turn to the Fresno I accompanied Captain Boling on 
his way with despatches to Colonel Fremont and the 
Indian Commission, who in the mean time had finished 
their work in the San Joaquin Valley and had gone 
to Los Angeles. Colonel McKee of the Commission 
asked the writer concerning the heights of cliffs and 
waterfalls, and when I gave the most moderate es- 
timates my judgment would allow, his pitying look 
for my lack of judgment warned me not to invite the 
world's scorn. I had estimated the altitudes far below 
the reality. 

The lapse of time intervening before the public would 
believe in the unique character of the Yosemite dis- 
couraged effort to inform the literary world, and the 
data preserved were for the most part withheld from 
publication. 

Angivine Reynolds, of the Mariposa "Gazette," 
published in the county in which the Yosemite Valley 
is situated, once wrote me, asking concerning its dis- 
covery, saying, "Can you give me the date?" I of 
course could not. Hoping to obtain something definite, 
I wrote to S. M. Cunningham, then guardian of the Big 
Tree Grove, who had in early days been a business asso- 



TOPICS OF THE TIME. 



797 



ciate of Major Savape, ami his ri'])ly only serves to show 
the errors into which the old pioneers hail been led. 
Mr. Cunninf^ham said, " Holing's and Kukcndall's 
company's first trip to \'osemite Valley, according to 
Mr. M. H. Lewis's adjutant's report, was early in Aprd, 
1851." The fact is, Kukendall's company was never 
in the \'oseniitc, but was on duty on King's River and 
in the Kah-we-ah,or Four Creeks country. I had, pre- 
vious to this correspondence, been induced to take up 
the subject of the discovery by seeing numerous errors 
concerning it, and had written to Adjutant-General 
L. H. Foot of California for any records in his posses- 
sion. The reply of CJeneral ]""oot was, "The records 
of this office, both written and printed, are so incom- 
plete that I am not aware, from consulting them, 
that the organization to which you allude [the Mari- 
posa Hattalion] had existence." This reply decided 
me to record the events which led to the discovery of 
the valley, and my hook, "The Discovery of the Vo- 
semite," is the result. 

In his valuable work, " In the Heart of the Sierras," 
Mr. J. M. Hutchings, after giving me full credit in the 
preface, says, " I have been able to supply the missing 
links needed for the completion of the historical chain 
of events so much desired and so unavailingly sought 
after by Dr. Bunnell concerning some of the valley's 
earlier history." Mr. Hutchings then introduces some 
valuable documents obtained from the journals of the 
California legislature, and quotes from Elliot's " History 
of Fresno County," with the idea of being accurate in 
his historical work. On page 56, referring to our first 
entrance into the valley, he says, "This was on May 
5 or 6, 1S51, although Dr. Bunnell incorrectly gives 
the latter part of March as the date." 

An old California pioneer, as Mr. Hutchings is, 
should have remembered that the rainy season is over 
by May 5 or 6, and that with the exception of moun- 
tain storms no severe or long-continued ones occur so 
late. Our waiting on account of the rain at our camp 
in the foothills below Mariposa could scarcely have 
occurred in May, or have been forgotten by any of the 
expedition. Our major was talented, but unlettered, 



and was dependent on his adjutant for all written com- 
munications, an<l ihcsewcre frequently made long after 
the events to which they related. At the date of the 
discovery of the Vosemite our adjutant was not with 
us. As we were broken into scouting squads, an ad- 
jutant would have been no more useful in hunting 
Indians than would have l)een a drum-major, and 
consequently he was left at headquarters. Viewing 
the valley under snow and through a clouded sky, di.s- 
appointed in his search for Indians, the only one found 
i)cing an old squaw, our major seemingly had no ap- 
preciation of the Vosemite. Adjutant Lewis was a 
most genial, kind-hearted gentleman, but I never kmw 
of any duties he performed in the field. The character 
of Major Savage's reports may be judged by his official 
estimate of the number of Indians engaged in hosiili- 
ties (23,000). 

Mr. Hutchings says, "The Mariposa Battalion 
was mustered out of service July i, 185 1." I have, 
however, an official statement from the War Depart- 
ment, Washington, D. C, that it was mustered out of 
service on July 25, 185 1. 

On page 272 the Mariposa In<lian war is represented 
as the war of 1S51-52. The first att.ack ujwn James 
D. Savage was made in May, 1850, his men were 
killed at the Fresno, in December of that year, and 
hostilities ceased with the capture of Ten-ei-ya and 
his band in June, 1 851. Lieutenant Tread well .Moore, 
U. S. A., caught and executed five Vosemite murder- 
ers in 1852, but no war followed. 

Comrade Starkey, of our old battalion, was murdered 
in 1S53. His murderers were pursued by Under-sher- 
iff James M. Roan, also a comrade, and when over- 
taken three of them were killed, and the others put to 
flight. Mr. Moore was compelled to notice the criti- 
cisms of the press, and in doing so, in 1854, became 
the first to draw attention to the wonderful character 
of the Yosenute scenery. 

In 1855 Mr. Hutchings first visited it, and since that 
date has done more to bring the vrdley into public 
and appreciative notice than any other man. 
Homer, Minnesota. Lafayette H. Bunnell. 



TOPICS OF THE TIME. 



Amateur Management of the Yosemite Scenery. 

1"*1IE articles by Mr. John Muir in the present and 
preceding numbers of Tmk Cf.nhry on the 
Yosemite Valley and the proposed National Park will 
have failed of their natural effect if, in addition to excit- 
ing the wonder of the reader at the unique beauty of 
waterfall and cliff effectively portrayed in .Mr. Muir's 
picturesque descriptions, they do not also stimulate the 
pride of Californians to an active interest in the l)ctter 
discharge of the trust assumed by the State in its ac- 
ceptance of the Yosemite grant. 

Mr. Muir shows nbnndantlv how desirable it is to 
reserve for public use, under national supervision, con- 
tiguous lands, only less rich in natural wonders than 
the Yosemite. The reservation is not only desirable 
for its intrinsic value, but also l>ec.iuse incidentally it 
will attract attention to the valley itself, and cs|>ecially 
to the dangers to which it is exposed from the lack of 



skill and knowledge in the commission which should 
be its most intelligent guardian. On this point Mr. 
Muir, who in California is recognized as the best 
authority on matters relating to the Sierra, ailds his 
testimony to that of many other unprejudiced observers 
and lovers of the valley. He says : 

Ax and plow, ho^ and horses, have long been and are 
'•■" '■•■ ■ in Vosemitc's gardens and groves. .Ml (hat is 
• and dcstniciihle is being r.ipitily «lcsir<>\f^ — 
III' I. i.i|>i(l!y than in any other Vosemite in •' " rra, 
thmigh this is the only one that is under the ro- 

tcciion of the Government. .Anil bv far •' ir j>art 

of this destruction of the fineness of wil. f n kind 

tiiat can claim no right relationship wii.'i ui.it which 
necessarily follows use.' 

One might multiply tcstimonyasto the injury already 
done to the floor of the valley were not the later boards' 

' See p. 667 of the prcucnt number of 1' 
"itnictivc Tendencies in the Vt'sciiiitc V... 
January, 1890. 



c; al»o ■■ De- 
Centi'by for 



79S 



TOPICS OF THE TIME. 



lack of respect for the plainest principles of the 
treatment of landscape already notorious in California 
through teslimony before an investigating committee 
of the California legislature — testimony abundantly 
supported by photographs of the injury done. 

These later sins of commission might long ago have 
been avoided were it not for the sins of omission of 
earlier boards. Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted, the dis- 
tinguished landscape forester, and a member of the 
first Vosemite Commission, was once officially invited 
to suggest a plan for making the valley available to 
the public. Mr. Olmsted's suggestions contemplated 
as little alteration to the natural growth as would be 
consistent with a public use which would not impair 
the sentiment of wildness and grandeur characteristic 
of the valley. His suggestions, however, though 
formally presented, were not only not adopted, but 
were never even printed in full. Had these been fol- 
lowed, visitors to the Vosemite in the past few years 
would not annually have seen the spectacle of the most 
phenomenal of the national pleasure grounds igno- 
rantly hewed and hacked, sordidly plowed and fenced, 
and otherwise treated on principles of forestry which 
would disgrace a picnic ground. 

Following Mr. Olmsted, another distinguished mem- 
ber of the first board. Prof. J. D. Whitney of Har- 
vard University-, for several years State Geologist of 
California, made further efforts to place the valley 
under systematic and proper supervision. Of his suc- 
cess Professor \\'hitney has lately written : 

As chairman of the executive committee of the Vo- 
semite Commission for several years, thwarted in every 
effort to carry out liberal, honest, and Christian ideas in 
regard to the management of the valley, finding my path 
blocked at all times by legislatures and courts, I have no 
confidence that anything could orwould be gained bymak- 
ing any further conveyance of United States property to 
the State of California. If the Vosemite could be taken 
from the State and made a national reservation I should 
have some hope that some good might be accomplished. 
I have no idea that the State will ever manage the matter 
as it ought to be, and I should regret to see the limits of 
the grant extended. 

A member of the present commission made very 
clear the issue between the friends and the enemies of 
reform when he said that he would rather have the 
advice of a Vosemite road-maker in the improvement 
of the valley than that of Mr. Frederick Law Olm- 
sted. Since the Vosemite is unique among pleasure 
grounds, it is at one time assumed by this commis- 
sioner that Mr. Olmsted would make the valley a mar- 
vel of potted plants, and at another time that his love 
of wildness would lead him to import decayed and 
picturesque tree trunks ; the fact being that no mem- 
ber of the commission has shown any conception of 
the principles upon which the modern treatment of 
nature in making it available to man is professionally 
carried on. The protest of the friends of reform is 
clear enough, and is not capable of being mistaken. It 
is simply that the Vosemite Valley is too great a work 
of nature to be marred by the intrusion of farming 
operations or of artificial effects. 

Judging from the published reports of the meeting 
of the Vosemite Commission in the valley in June of 
the present year, steps are now being taken to put into 
operation a scheme to uproot and destroy the under- 
growth, brush, and trees of the last forty years — a 



policy which Mr. Olmsted has declared would result, 
if carried out, in "a calamity to the civilized world." 
It is difficult to believe the commission sincere in the 
exaggerated fear of a conflagration in Vosemite, which 
is given as the reason for this policy ; for, as the reader 
will see by reference to the illustrations of Mr. Muir's 
article in The Centlry for August, there has been 
permitted a pernicious system of trimming up the young 
conifers to so considerable a height as to destroy the 
beauty of the trees, while the dry brush and the lopped 
limbs have been left lying upon the ground, where the 
writer of this article saw them in June, 1889. Assum- 
ing the danger from fire to be an actual one, it would 
seem to be better to spend one's energies in prevent- 
ing the beginning of a conflagration than to destroy 
the beauty of the valley by cutting out what at most 
would be but a small part of the combustible material. 
But even if it were necessary to make extensive alter- 
ations by means of the ax, does this lessen to any de- 
gree the necessity for expert knowledge in the opera- 
tion ? Members of the commission have publicly 
discussed the matter as though the question to be con- 
sidered were the stoutness of the axman, and not the 
effect of his work to the eye. After this, the quali- 
fications of the "experienced foresters" whom they 
expect to consult in their avowed policy of slaughtering 
the young growth in the valley may easily be imagined ; 
they are certainly not such as will commend themselves 
to the respect and confidence of the public. 

So far The Century has confined its protest 
against Vosemite management in this matter solely to 
the lack of expert supervision of the scenery. As to the 
causes which lie behind, and have for years preceded, 
the lamentable condition of affairs in the valley, Cali- 
fornians have every reason to be intelligent. It is de- 
voutly to be hoped for the good name of the State 
that it will not be necessary to transfer to the halls of 
Congress the scandals of California's capitol. If this 
shall not he necessary, it will probably be due to the 
fact that the next legislature of the State will be 
awakened to a sense of its responsibility in the matter. 
Meanwhile it is easy to see that the fire which endangers 
the Vosemite is not so much the unextinguished embers 
of the wandering camper as the all-consuming flame 
of politics, which nowhere burns with a fiercer or more 
withering heat than in the noble State of California. 

Misgovernment of Cities. 

Why are American cities so generally misgoverned, 
and what is the remedy? These are questions which 
have been discussed almost constantly for many years, 
and the discussion has produced many plans for re- 
form, some of which have been tried, but none of which 
has resulted in the establishment of anything more 
than a temporary and limited improvement. One set 
of reformers has maintained that the only way by w hich 
approximately good government could be secured was 
by the concentration of power in the hands of one ex- 
ecutive, or at most of an executive and a few heads of 
departments. Another set has maintained that such 
concentration would lead surely to an aggravation of 
all our worst evils, and that the only road to reform 
lay in division of responsibility and power among the 
executive and legislative and administrative branches. 
Others have maintained that local rule was bad under 



TO CAI.IlokXIA IX 1S49 'lllkol (.11 Mi:XK"(). 




— . California with its 
/^ miiiesof gold, and 
how soonest to get 
there was the rul- 
ing excitement of 
the hour, in the fall 
of 1 848. The "gold 

it V ^- r^i^H "> ^*^^^^" ^v^s at its 

j^'mL^ s:'!) height. Many de- 

^"^ ^ sire{i to go gokl- 

hunting that could 
not for want of 
i.L i^ • ^fc^^>>j money, an<l many 
W^' ^B^^^^^S^^ tli'it li^^<^l ^h*-' where- 
withal could not 
abandon families, 
homes, and busi- 
ness with any de- 
gree of self-ap- 
proval. So in many in- 
stances the matter wascom- 
jiromised, and he who could 
spare the cash (and sometimes 
he that could not) entered into 
agreement with the impecunious but enter- 
l)rising adventurer who desired to go, to fur- 
nish him the means, the jjroceeds to be shared 
between them on his return. Had the gold- 
hunters kept faith with their bankers and 
shared all they obtained, it would have been 
another case of fisherman and gate-keeper. 
The fisherman, it will be remembered, was 
denied admittance to the castle with a splen- 
di<l fish, of which he knew the lord of the cas- 
tle was fond, until he agreed to give half he 
received to the obstinate gate-keeper. Once 
admitted, he refused to dispose of it to the 
master except for one hundred lashes. He 
was compelled to explain, and received one- 
half lightly laid on, while the gate-keeper re- 
ceived the other half laid on with vigor. Could 
the i)ioneer have given to his stay-at-home 
partner one-half of the hardships, dangers, 
diseases, shipwrecks, extreme hunger, and ilire 
distresses he endured he would doubtless have 
been willing to share the gold also. 

Hut these arrangements enabled thousands 
of energetic and fearless men to start on the 
pilgrimage for gold in many ways. One of 
these, which I am about to narrate, was the 
formation of a company of two hundred ad- 
venturous spirits fitted out in New-York. The 
plan was to go by sea to Vera Cruz, Mexico, 
thence overland to the Pacific coast at San 
lilas or Mazatlan, and in the absence of ves- 

666 



sels at these ports to continue the journey of 
two thousand miles by land through .Mexico, 
Lower and L'pjier California to the mines. A 
l)art of the company embarked from San HIas, 
a ])art from Mazatlan, and a jjart made the 
entire journey overland from Vera Cruz. 

This company, mostly c()mi>osed of picked 
young men, was organized under the compre- 
hensive title of the " Manhattan-California 
Overland Association," and numbered about 
two hundred members. We were full of a san- 
guine spirit of adventure and eager to dig our 
fortunes from the mines in the shortest i)Ossil)le 
time. We were fitted out with very wide- 
brimmed soft hats, boots of rubber or leather 
reaching above the knee, woolen and rubber 
blankets, red flannel shirts, a liberal supply of 
tin pans for washing out the gold, shovels, picks, 
spades, crowbars, camp-kettles, frying-pans, tin 
])lates, tin cups, daguerreotyjies, locks of hair. 
Spanish books, a few patent gold- washers, musi- 
cal instruments, etc., the mo.st of which assort- 
ment was early scattered along the Mexican 
trails or in the chaparral, or jjcrhaps sold to the 
natives for a few small coins. To these were 
added rifles, carbines, shot-guns, revolvers, and 
bowie-knives, to which we clung closely all 
the way. We chartered the bark Mara, Cap- 
tain Parks, in ballast, of some two hundred 
tons, fitted her hold with a flooring and two 
tiers of double bunks all around her sides, 
jjlaced a cook-stove amidsliip in the hold with 
the i)ipe projecting from the open hatchway, 
provisioned her at our own expense with van- 





'7-4 'i 




/ 1 



V*.- '1 



"OM, Sl'SANNAM, l>ON T VOU t NV l-OK MB. 




Vol. XUr.— 85. 



TO cAfjroRxiA /.v iSn; T/rA'Ofi;// Mf'.xrro. 



667 



oils sea -stores of the < omiiion sort, beans an<l ol the most cinpliatic oatlis, \vhi( It he freely 

pork.sah l)eef, hams, Iliac kerel, sea-liread, <(»f liesloweil ti|)<in us. 

tee, aiul a sujiply of water, and were ready for Amcjiig our number, gathered on the ves- 
the voyage. scl's deck at the wharf, \va.s one young man 
We provided no cook, as we were all earnest of striking [jhysicjuc, very tall, wearing a broad 
on the score of economy and self-denial, and sombrero antl boots reaching to his hips and 
our outlay thus far for the voyage to Vera C"ru/ already fitted with spurs for the .Mexican 
was but twenty dollars each. We presented a mustang he expected to ride, and with buck- 
remarkable appearance as we boarded the bark skin gauntlets reaching to his elbows, and two 



/ ■ 



*n-i 





'.--.fW?5l 



11 'J^^rr. 



I 4 







7 



THE CATHEUKAI. AND IIARIIOK OK VKRA CRl'Z. 



at the foot of Burling Slip on the last day of 
January, 1849, every man in full Califfjrnia 
costume, his armament in his belt — boots and 
buckskin gaunlleted gloves, a roll of blankets 
strapped <i la militaire on his shoulders, a car- 
bine or rifle slung ujion his back, and frying- 
pans, coft'ee-pots, camp-kettles, anil assorted 
tinware in his hanils. The bark had a poop- 
deck on her quarter in which were a few small 
rooms for which lots were drawn, and I was 
lortunate in drawing one, which freed me from 
the confinement of the packed and darkened 
bunks of the vessel's hold, with its foul atmo- 
sphere of bilge-water and heated humanity. 

Captain Parks enlisted but a small crew, de- 
pending on volunteers, but he was wisely i»ro- 
vide«l with his own cook and caboose. His 
cook had a remarkable personality: a light 
copper-colored negro over six feet in height, 
exceedingly slim, gaunt and gray, wrinkled and 
crippled, with but one eye. three fingers on one 
hand and none on the other, and with a vo- 
cabulary in Knglish which consisted entirely 



revolvers and a bowie-knife in his broad belt. 
He was very conspicuous as he mounted the 
vessel's shroutis, crejit through the '* lubber- 
hole " and posed in the main-top, and then 
clambered down again to the deck. " All 
aboard ! " was cried, '* and all ashore that 's 
going," was the usual paradoxical warning. 
Many friends were on the wharf to .say good- 
by and wish us pleasant things; kisses were 
being exchanged, w hile a jovial group on the 
([uarler-deck was vociferously singing: 

Oil, Susannali, don't you cry for me ; 
I 'in bound for Californy with my tin pan on my 
knee, 

w hen a pretty, fair-haired girl, her rosy cheeks 
wet with tears, put up her lips that our booted 
hero might impart his farewell kiss. His heart 
was tentier if his boots were large, and, just as 
we were casting loose from the wharf, he 
sprang upon the deck, threw his baggage 
ashore, and followed it with agility, renouncing 
for love all his goMen visions of California. 



TO CALnOR.\L\ l.\ 1S4.J ///A'Ol <;// M l:\ICO. 



GC( 



Down tlic liav \vc s|i(.'<l, with the tugboat 
alongside and the 1 horns (jf " Susannah " ring- 
ing over the waters, to which was ad<led the 
retrain : 

Rut the happy time is over ; 
I 'vc only grief and pain, 
Kur I sliall never, never sec 
Susannah dear again, 

which was concluded with three ringing cheers 
and a hurrah for California as the tug left us 
on the l)roa<l Atlantic. A gale speedily sprang 
u|), and all night long our ligiilly ballasted 
bark rolled hither and thither upon the heav- 
ing seas, and many i)enitential landsmen, under 
the influence of their first seasickness, wished 
they had never left their homes, and were freely 
urged by the more jolly ones to wade ashore. 

Hy the next morning's light was revealed a 
dejected an<l motley group of seasick humanity 
taking its first sea lessons on old Neptune's 
dominions. .\nd now came a culmination of 
our miseries. W'e had jjork, beans, (oftee, and 
hardtack, but where was the cook ? How were 
two hundred men w ith stoma( hs now in a state 
of entire vacuum to be ici\ with hot coffee and 
cooked rations? In times of emergency the 
N'ankee always calls a public meeting, and .so 
a mass meeting was convened ; and, after 
speeches had been made, it was decided to ac- 
cept the proposal of two of our number, who 
for a valuable consideration volunteered to 
cook for the two hundred till we should reach 
\'era Cruz. Thenceforth, after a period of fast- 
ing, we had one lunch a day, when the sea was 
n(jt too rough, till our voyage was ended, on 
tile 24th day of February. 

The writer must leave it to the imagina- 
tion of the reader to divine what the 200, con- 
fined on that small vessel for twenty-four days, 
did in the way of mischief. Once only on 
the voyage did the boisterous spirits on board 
re(juire discipline. This the good, but sorely 
tried. Captain Parks administered by ordering 
the bark " laid to." This was effective, as 
every one was in haste to reach California 
before the gold should all be " dug out," and 
dreaded delay. 

We arrived off the coast of Mexico just as the 
evening sun was descending amid the golden 
clouds over the mountain peaks. Hanked b\ 
dark and somber ma.sses, the snow-crowned 
( )ri/aba, or star mountain, set high in the blue 
lieavens, flashing as with a coronal of dia 
inonds. 'I'wo snow-white birds of flowing 
l)lumage came oft" from the yet distant land, 
and with an easy and grateful movement of 
their wings circled around our mastheads, and 
then flew straight landward again. They were 
the mariners' pilot-birds of the tropics come 
to guide us ashore. It was Sunday morning 



when we dri)|)ped an< hor near St. Juan de 
I'lloa, with its (juaint ancient tower, and the 
( ity of Vera ("ru/.'just before us. 

'I"he uniformed customs officials speedily 
boarded us from a small boat, and while the 
( langing of some scores of music al Spanish 
bells from the cathedral towers filled the air. 
the offic ers were entertained by an encounter 
between two ai our pugnacious gold-hunters, 
who struck vigorously from the shoulder. We 
received a speedy permission to land, as the 
officials did not a])pear to enjov our c om- 
panionshij). Sunday was passed in lo(jking at 
the sights in the old Sj)anish city, battered and 
bombarded as it had been two years before by 
the artillery of (ieneral .Scott. Walls and build- 
ings constructed of coral rocks were shattered 
as he had left them, fragments of bombs and 
solid shot lay about the streets where his can- 
non had fired them, and along the beach were 
numerous dilapidated wrecks of surf-boats 
where he had abandoned them. Numerous 
army wagons, caissons, and artillery carriages 
were scattered about, and thousands of Yan- 
kee-made pack-saddles were offered us for our 
journey. These and much other paraphernalia, 
tlie production of army contractors, had only 
served the purpose intended — that of enrich- 
ing the contractors. The only pack-saddle 
found useful was the Mexican one, consisting 
of two great jjillows of leather connected and 
hung astride the mule, and weighing without 
the " cargo " some eighty pounds, on top of 
which or susjjended from it would be a loail 
of some two hundred pounds. 

As Vera Cruz is in a section of sand, cactus, 
and lizards, surrounded by a large tract of 
chaparral, messengers were sent to the near- 
est ranches and haciendas to announce that 
an arrival of " Los Yankees" was in want of 
horses, mules, and "burros." We were con- 
strained to remain for the night in the yel- 
low-fever-j)roducing city among its so-called 
" greasers " (as our soldiers had termed them). 
This we pa.s.sed in a caravansary, the first 
floor of which was packed with two hundred 
head of pac k-mules and "burros." We spread 
our blankets on the boards of the second floor, 
disturbing large colonies of fleas who held pre- 
emption rights, and who resisted our encroac h- 
ment by furious onslaughts on every i)art of 
our bodies. There were openings in the wall 
of our room but no windows, and from below, 
the whole night through, there was one con- 
tinual braying and u|)roar from tin- two hun- 
dred hungry mules. Nothing could parallel 
this first night iu Mexico but a page of 
hante's " Inferno." 

.As our war with .Mexico had just closed, 
and the ignorant nia.s.ses yet held us in the 
same enmity with which they had regarded 



670 TO CALIFORNIA IN 1849 THROUGH MEXICO. 

their concjuerors, matters did not look favora- terprise, who had professed to be a veteran 
ble for a peaceful passage over the whole ex- Mexican traveler and who was to act as gen- 
tent of Mexico, especially a's we expected to eralissimo of the whole, had failed to report on 
follow the route taken by Scott's army, and to board the Mara, so a mass meeting was con- 
pass over battle-fields where, as we learned, vened at Santa Fe, and with very brief speech- 
bleached skeletons lay still unburied. The makingthewriterwaschosen to take command 
government, in fact, the whole country, was yet of the expedition. On calling the roll it was 
in a state of demoralization, and guerrillas and found that one member had been left in Vera 
robbers infested almost every mile of the way. Cruz, having been thrown skyward from his 
Besides this, merchants of intelligence in Vera horse and somewhat injured. Wishing toaban- 
Cruz warned us that we were almost sure to be don none, I called for a volunteer and started 
robbed and murdered, that if we should escape back to the city (ten miles through deep sand 
this fate we could not find provisions on our lined with a growth of chaparral) to escort 
journey for men or beasts, and that we would our comrade out to camp. The volunteer 
most surely break down our animals, and be was a Mr. Pierce, who had been a member of a 
glad to resort to horse or mule meat to sustain company of cavalry at home and had brought 
life. Impressed by these tales (which found with him his long cavalry sword, which he 
fulfilment to some extent even as to mule meat, secured in a dangling position from the horn 
with rattlesnakes added), about fifty of the most of his saddle. His steed was not used to such 
pronounced and boastful among our company an appendage, and soon the rider was rolling 
took a return passage on the vessel for New in the sand in one direction and the horse in 
York. another. As the way was beset with guerrillas, 

On Monday Mexican horse-traders pre- I gave my horse a free rein and spur ; and with 

sented themselves, in comparison with whom a ready revolver in one hand rode into the city 

the sharpest Yankee horse-jockey sunk into and safely brought my comrade out to the 

utter insignificance. They drove in before them, camp. 

with a " whoop la "and a Comanche yell, cara- At this first camp we divided into " messes," 
vansof horses and mules that included not only bought and distributed a Mexican beef, and 
the halt and the maimed, the lame and the cooked our first meals. We made our first start 
blind, but also some of the most vicious and for a day's march on the morning of the 
worthless brutes that were ever collected to- 28th day of February. The first camp-fires, 
gether — galled and chafed, sore-backed, buck- the cooking, the saddling-up, the loading of 
ers, jumpers, and balky. Yet with wonderful skill baggage and equipments on the vicious, kick- 
the owners of these gothic animals covered up ing, biting mustangs and donkeys, and the 
and disguised their defects and their vicious final mount and start were altogether beyond 
tricks, so that in most cases the deception and description. Besides the rider, they had to 
trickery were not discovered till the vendors carry two blankets, his mining tools, coffee-pot, 
were well on their way to their ranches again, camp-kettle, and frying-pan laid on or hanging 
From twenty-five to forty dollars, or pesos, each from his saddle, and his bag of tin cups, spoons, 
was paid by anxious buyers for animals which and tin plates, and his gun, rifle, or carbine slung 
the owners would have been glad to sell for on his back, and a variety of other articles sup- 
one-quarter the money. We found that these posed to be essential. Don Quixote and Sancho 
mustangs could with equal facility throw the Panza joined to Falstaff's regiment would not 
rider over their heads, or kick him off to the have presented half so motley a group. The 
rear,orshoot him upward, or lie down abruptly, rattle of tinware and the orders and the 
or take out a liberal piece of his flesh, and yet shouting in an unknown tongue excited the 
under the manipulation of the ranch owner wild and half-broken mustangs to madness, 
they had been as docile and gentle as could I soon had to organize a rear-guard under 
be desired. Captain Pierce to pick up stragglers, help re- 

However, our passports having been vised load broken cargoes, and lift stubborn and 
and each man mounted, and some several refractory mules to their feet. It was also 
times dismounted, by Monday night we reached necessary constantly to halt the column, know- 
as best we could a general rendezvous or ing well that a man who should be left out of 
camping-place at Santa Fe, a group of huts sight in the rear would be speedily gobbled up 
some ten miles from Vera Cruz, and passed by the watchful robbers trailing after us. Along 
our first night on our blankets with the ground the day's route, as all the way across the whole 
for a bed and the heavens for a shelter tent, of Mexico, we found wooden crosses, indicating 
On the vessel we had organized into four that a murder had been committed there. This 
divisions, each with a captain at its head, first day's ride of ten miles brought us to a 
known as the New Jersey, Island City, Enter- stream known as Murderer's Den. Here, be- 
prise, and Pacific. The originator of the en- fore starting from camp in the morning, a detail 



TO CAl.UVRMA IX /.s'./y rHKOrCII MI-XICO. 



fi"]} 




A MEXICAN HORSE-TRADER. 



of organization was made, and by adopting a 
rigid military disciplint.', and discarding worth- 
less incumbrances in the way of mining tools, 
gold-washers, etc., I was able to train my 
\.xoo\) so that when the trail was not very rough 
or mountainous over twenty Mexican leagues 
a day was made between cam[)s. As we left 
the low-lying, malarious sea-coast, our road and 
climate both im])roved, and on the first Satur- 
day we camped for rest over Sunday in the 
suburbs of the beautiful city of Jalapa, a city 
of fruits and flowers, of which the Mexican 
proverb says: "See Jalapa and die." 

Hefore starting again on .Monday morning 
many exchanges for better animals took place, 
and abetter outfit generally was provided, and 
a more cheerful spirit prevailed. Here our 
horses and riding mules were shod, a neces- 
sary preliminary to crossing the mountain 
ranges. I f the mule was not too refractory, this 
was managed by tying one of his hind legs to 
his tail, well up from the ground, but if he was 
intractable he was left but two feet to staml 



ujion, the opposite forefoot being tied close 
under the l)ody. 

On the jila/.a of Jalapa tlie lujstilc feeling 
against the Yankees had its first outbreak. A 
great crowd gathered about the red-shirted 
horsemen as we rode into the jjlaza on Sunday, 
and a rush was made by the mob to dismount 
us and drive us from our saddles. lUit a vig- 
orous charge prom|)(ly made against the mob 
with threatening revolvers drove them back 
and gave safe escajie to the hard-jiressed horse- 
men. Through the villages of the country parts 
we were received bv the si-fioras and sefwrUas 
with kindness, but by the males with frowns 
and threats, and with the significant gesture 
of a finger drawn across the throat. In no 
place were we safe from attack except in grou|is 
which commanded safety and respect. 'I'o 
them in their ignorance we were still Yankees 
and ioltiados. One night, a little way be- 
yond Jalapa, our entrance into one of their 
walled towns caused great excitement ; a gen- 
eral alami was rung on the cathedral bells, 



Gy: 



TO CALIFORNIA IN 184^ THROUGH MEXICO. 




A SAMPLE STEED. 



messengers rode out in haste to alarm the sur- 
rounding haciendas, and natives flocked into 
the town, two or three mounted on the back 
of each mule, armed with escopeites. But we 
remained close inside the strong gates of our 
hacienda, and, the excitement subsiding, we 
were allowed to leave without an attack early 
the next day. Camp was aroused usually 
at three o'clock in the morning; fires were 
kindled, pots of coffee were boiled, and, when 
possible, eggs {wavos) also. Then came a 
march in military order of about twenty miles, 
when halt was ordered for dinner, provided 
water and corn were to be had for the horses. 
Supplies of whatever could be purchased were 
foraged for along the route, bananas and sweet 
potatoes being the staple ; occasionally pork 
could be had, and in the larger places very 
poor beef, cut into long strips and sold always 
by the yard. This tough beef was eaten by the 
Mexicans cut first in small pieces and then 
stewed in a quantity of red peppers resembling 
stewed tomatoes (called came de Chili). If 
our halt was made at a hacienda, the universal 
national dish of " tortillas " and " frijoles " was 
to be obtained, served with coffee, at three 
cents a meal. But our hungry and robust riders 
could dispose of many meals at a sitting, and 



when camping and with a sufficient supply of 
yards of meat to satisfy their hungry stomachs, 
the quantity they fed themselves from their 
frying-pans was not only an astonishment but 
almost a horror to the natives, who crowded 
our camp to see the show. Upon one occasion, 
after a hard day's ride of over forty miles along 
a route where supplies were not to be had, we 
camped by aclear stream, where but a few native 
huts of poles and branches sheltered the popula- 
tion. Two priests, with a large, mule-drawn 
carriage, were just in advance of us, and in re- 
ceiving the monthly tithes for the church had 
carried away all the wealth of the place, and 
there was but one answer, to our calls for food, 
" Nada, Seflor, tiada. No hai tortillas. No hai 
frijoles." Lieutenant Gray, a stray soldier, who 
had been left adrift in Mexico, volunteered to 
bring me some supper from among the vil- 
lagers. In utter fatigue, I threw myself upon 
tlie ground in one of the huts, and was soon 
in a deep slumber. At about eleven o'clock 
Gray returned and awakened me. The hut 
was crowded full of men and women gazing 
at me with great interest, but they were care- 
ful to keep at a safe distance from me. Gray 
explained his stratagem thus : He had told 
them the capitan was a great warrior, anil had 



TO CALFFORNIA IN 1841; TffROUGIf MEXICO. 



673 



catciithc prisoners he took in l)attlc ; that I was and in platoons at doiihle (|uick (:liar},'c<l to- 

\ cry hungry and would also eat corn and hay, wards the guerrillas, l\vidently a fight with 

but liked eggs and onions better. He brought the hated Yankees in red shirts was not what 

eggs, onions, antl salt, leaving outside a sujjply tiiey liesired, for as we came within short 

of corn and hay for me to eat, an operation range,their leader gave the word *'r<7///r>j," and 

which the ignorant but curious natives had away they galloped down the ravine helter- 

come to witness. So far as the boiled eggs and skelter, and we saw them no more. We ( er- 

(inions were concerned, being my first meal of tainly were not a handsome crowd at this time, 

the day, I was glad to be able to gratify them. At National P.ridge we saw the wreckage 



In cami)ing for the night, sentries were sta- 
tioned, and pickets were posteil, and the ani- 
mals were secured with lariats inside the 
picket line, but sometimes, when guerrillas 



and the unburie<l bones of thatbattle-field, and 
looked with wonder upon the fortified height 
that guarded the entrance of the almost per- 
])cndicular heights up which Colonel Harney's 



abounded, in the center of the camp. Once dismounted dragoons workeii their way with 
only did these ladroues make an open demon- the help of bushes and props, and to which they 




A «\\SI|i 



>lrati()n. \\ c were in a section of country 
covered with low bushes, in which jack-rab- 
bits, wild turkeys, and other game were pres- 
ent. No towns were near, and. feeling secure, 
a large part of the company was scattered in 
l)ursuit of the game, hoping to secure enough 
to fill our camp-kettles on our next halt, for 
we had been some days on short rations. The 
Mexican women were always friendly, and 
presently some were met on the trail, calling 
out to us: "■' f.aJn»u-s .' iiuhcnrs .' '' and i)oint- 
ing forward on our i)ath. At this our strag- 
glers were called in. The robbers were a large 
band of well-mounted and well-armed men, 
and had fileil across our road in the bed of 
an tinvva or dr)- stream. To fight as a troop 
of cavalry with camp ecjuipage and cooking- 
utensils dangling from our sa<ldles, or to wait 
a charge from them, would have been sure 
defeat. So I tlismounted a part of my troop, 
Vol. XI, 1 1. —86. 



clung in the face of a sweei)ing fire from the 
Mexican batteries on its summit, which they 
captured with a rush, turning their own guns 
upon the artillerists as they ran down the 
opi)osite side of the hill. We feared having to 
force our way over this bridge, but were not 
molested. 

Upon the heightsof C'erroCiordo we camped 
for our noonday meal. Upon its central battle- 
field, where Santa Anna made his most stub- 
born fight, we kindled our camp-fires, and. 
ilip|)ing water from its sunken pools co\ered 
with slimy green vegetation, we drank our 
coffee under the shade of the same trees where 
the desperately wounded lay to die, glad of the 
luxury of that stagnant i)Ool to (juench their 
thirst. It was the best those heights afforded 
amid that deathlv struggle. .Ml around us lav 
scattered uncofiined bones, and ghastly skulls 
looked down upon us where in mockery they 



TO CALIFORNIA IN 184^ THROUGH MEXICO. 



674 

had been secured among the branches of tlie 
trees, and everywhere earth and trees and 
broken armament gave silent witness of the 
awful struggles of our little army. All the way 
up the heights for miles the pine trees from the 
roadside yet obstructed the national road as 
they had been felled to hinder the onward 
march of our soldiers, while from point to point 
the Mexican troops and batteries were rallied 
for another stand. We left the historic spot 
with a triumphant three times three and with 



very sides ; they seemed almost to cling to us 
for safety. It was Saturday afternoon, and we 
found welcome shelter in the hacienda Buena 
Vista near the mountain summit, a spot made 
historic afterward as a place of refuge for the 
unfortunate Emperor Maximilian. 

We found the whole mountain-summit in- 
fested with guerrillas. We were on the highway 
of travel and not far from the City of Mexico, 
and in this section these lawless bands were ac- 
customed to make the boldest and most sue- 



I 




SHOEING A iMl'LE. 



uncovered heads in honor both of our dead 
and our living heroes. 

We were soon well up the Rio Frio moun- 
tains, and were received near the summit by 
a terrible war of the elements in the pine forest 
— thunder, lightning, rain, hail, snow, intense 
cold, and a howling hurricane. We were 
drenched through and through, and shook as 
with an ague, and our poor animals, used to 
the warm plains below, chilled with cold and 
in terror from fright, trembled in every limb 
and crouched helplessly upon the ground, 
dazed by the lightning and shocked by the 
thunder which seemed to discharge at our 



cessful raids either upon mounted travelers or 
upon the diligencia, which was iieriodically 
and helplessly plundered, often with the addi- 
tion of wanton murder. I felt justified in tak- 
ing possession of the hacienda; posted my own 
sentries, and picketed it for some distance out- 
side, obliging its own proprietor and employees 
to come and go by my permission and only 
with the password. By Sunday morning, for 
the safety of my troop, I found it expedient to 
leave this stronghold (as I learned we were 
largely outnumbered) and make a hasty march 
to Mexico City, which we safely accomplished. 
Even under these circumstances it was a sub- 



77) C If.// l)/<\/.t /.V iS^,) 77//kUU'(;// \// \/iU. 



^■'75 



lime cxpcricnrc In riili' down that moiiii- 
taiii la'ij,'lu — Mounts I'opoc ata|»ctl aTi<l 
I/.tacxiluiatl l)()lli looking down upon us, 
tlie great valley and City of Mexico in full 
\ icw l)clo\v us, and a thunder shower witli 
its dark nimbus clouds and forked ligiil- 
ning full in the sunshine under us. On the 
way down the mountain we saw three 
guerrillas hanging from a frame by tlu' 
roadside by ropes passed under their arms. 
\\'e stoj)|)etl for our lunch at noon, ami 
were entertained by a company of Mexi- 
can rangers or lancers, handsomely uni- 
formed and armed with a long spear witli 
a red ])ennant and the indispensable lasso 
of raw-hide, and mounted on sui)erior. 
hardy Mexican horses. 'I'hey hail captured, 
and, without the form of judge or jury, had 
riddled with bullets and afterward hanged 
the three rt)bbers we hatl passed on theway- 
siile. With their gay trappings of silver- 
ornamented riding outfit, their swarthy 
fai es, black hair, fierce mustaches, and fiery 
eyes, the lancers were well calculated to 
affright the souls of fearful adversaries. 
Their favorite method of attack was to 
throw the lasso over their victim, then with 
their well-trained horses to jerk him from the 










' LADRONR. 



prompt interference of others, lives would un- 
doul)tedly have been lost and our travels would 



saddle, drag him to death over the ground, or in have ended inside prist -n walls. This made 



mercy lance mm. liy their invitation I stood 
at a considerable distance from them to test 
their skill w ith the lasso. By the utmost agility 
I was utterly unable to escape its folds. 
.Across the valley of Mexico, j)ictures(iue 



our longer stay in the city l)oth uncomfortable 
and hazardous, and once again we mounted 
our now rested .steeds for the trip to the Pacific. 
Dissatisfied with my purpose to halt on Sun- 
davs for rest and to ret ruit the horses, .some 



with parallel rows of the century plant, which thirtyof the company now detached themselves 



furnishes the national «lrink oi pulque^ we en 
tered through open gates the ancient city of 
•Monte/uma. not long before coniiuered and 
evacuated by the small army of the United 
States. We fijund (luarters in a comfortable 
hacienda, while the numerous fondas of the 
city furnished refreshment and i)ul(iue. Puhjue 
is the lager beer of Mexico. It is everywhere 
transported on the backs of mules in skins of 
hogs stripped from them in some mysterious 



from my command. They were in haste to 
reach California before the gold was all "dug 
out," and consideretl sue h halting a waste of 
time. So they bade us good-by and started at 
a ra])id gait in atlvance. 

On this i)art of the journey we had an illu.s- 
tration of justice in an alcalde's court. Two 
of our men, w ho dift'ered about the ownership 
of a mule, agree<l to arbitrate before the al- 
calde of the village where thev chan( ed to be. 



way by which legs and all are utilized for a One claimant .slipped a ^2.^0 gold piece in 
great bottle. 

On the following day the antipathy to 
Americans was shcnvn on the public pla/a 
near the great cathedral, during the passage 
of a religious procession of the Host preceded 
by the ringing of a bell. Kvery one within 
hearing indoors or on the street reverently 
knelt where he was, removed his hat, and made 
the sign of the cross. This was not regarded 
by the gold-hunters, who stood erect, curiously 



the alcalde's hand, and a si)eedy decision was 
rendere<l in his favor, .\fter leaving the town 
a short di>tancethe other claimant rode back, 
put a $5 gold piece in the alcalde's hand, and 
speedilv came back with a decision written 
out in iiis tavor and reversing the other. 

.\fter a long day's man h we reached Celaya, 
a walled town oi" some six thousand inhabi- 
tants. The i)eople were decidedly hostile, and 
the alcalde sent me a summons to appear be- 



gazing at the scene. At once they were set fore him, and commanded that I should make 

upon i)y those nearest them, dragged to their no attempt to leave the town l>efore sunrise, 

knees, and their hats knocked off their heads, and that I should at once send one-half my 

.\ mob cjuic kly gathered. The men resisted number to another town, some ten miles be- 

with desperation," and had it not been for the yond, a town of about the .same .size a-s Celaya, 



676 



TO CALIFORNIA IN 1849 THROUGH MEXICO. 



adding tliat he would also send a messenger 
with us to insure our safety, as otherwise we 
were sure to be attacked. I replied that I 
would not do so, that we asked no protection, 
but if attacked would take care of ourselves. 
He then gave an order to the proprietor of the 
hacienda to hold us prisoners inside the fort- 
ress (for a hacienda is also a fortress) until sun- 
rise the next morning. At three o'clock I 
called up and mounted my men, and then awak- 
ened the keeper, and with a revolver placed at 
his head persuaded him to unlock the barri- 
cade, and we rode triumphantly out. The al- 
calde's plan was to divide the troop, and with 
the aid of the other town, where were some 
troops, to get satisfaction for incidents of the 
war. 

Our journeying led us, on Saturday night, 
to a small walled town not far from the large 
city of Guadalajara. It had abundant orange 
as well as banana groves, and a clear stream 
swept along part of the town. Three hundred 
miles, in part of rough mountainous travel, 
had been made during the week ; and men 
and horses were alike worn and weary and 
glad of so enticing a place of rest. While sip- 
ping a cup of coffee in the fonda on Sun- 
day morning I heard the report of a gun in our 
quarters and a messenger entered hurriedly to 

say that young W (from New Jersey) had 

shot himself dead. Our quarters wer"e at once 
crowded by the excited natives, who desired to 
administer summary punishment on us for what 
they considered a murder. We held them oft" 
till nightfall. As best we could we extempo- 
rized a coftin from some rude boards, prepared 
his body for burial, and I read over him the 
burial service, and waiting till the town was 
silent, in midnight darkness, we silently stole 
out of the town and buried him in a secluded 
spot, placing at the head of his grave a rude 
wooden cross to preserve it from desecration. 

We then made our escape in the early morn- 
ing, and with sadness entered the great city 
of Guadalajara. We arrived at about eleven 
o'clock in the morning. A regiment of soldiers 
were there on the way to chastise some rebel- 
lious Indians. The presence of the soldiers 
joined to the entrance of my company of one 
hundred and fifty red-shirted, travel-worn, 
armed troopers brought the excitement at once 
to a demonstration. We had just reached a 
hacienda when the cry of " Revolution ! — revo- 
lution!" was raised. Soldiers discharged their 
muskets in the streets, women screamed, men 
hurriedly closed their places of business for 
fear of robbery and joined in the excitement. 
We shut and barricaded our fortress doors, fear- 
ing that this was to be the end of our California 
journey, while we were yet more than an hun- 
dred miles from the seashore. With the popu- 



lation opposed to them, every one of that 
brave group of young men stood up to the 
issue; their faces paled a httle, but weapons 
were coolly got ready for a fray out of which 
none expected to come alive. How the at- 
tack upon us was ever held in check I never 
learned, but a little after midnight we succeeded 
in getting away unmolested. 

The remainder of our journey brought us to 
the commercial town of Tepic, whose trade 
was with the seaport of San Bias, and we found 
no further obstruction or enmity, as the inter- 
course and interests of commerce had made the 
people friendly to the American people. We 
arrived at San Bias in excellent health and con- 
dition, having lost but one of our number. In 
port we providentially found the brig Cayuga, 
Captain Savage, of some two hundred tons, 
belonging to the firm of Pacific traders. How- 
land & Aspinwall. Captain Savage, an Aus- 
trian, had sailed her down the coast in ballast, 
on the chance that some party of gold-hunters 
might cross Mexico and require a vessel to 
transport them to San Francisco. A contract 
was soon entered into similar to the one with 
Captain Parks, of the Mara. The hold of the 
Cayuga was floored, and double bunks were 
again provided with about three feet of space 
from floor to deck. In the absence of water- 
casks, red-wood or dug-out canoes filled with 
supplies of water were stowed below the floor. 
As before, we furnished our own sea-stores. 
They consisted of old whalers' sea-bread, con- 
demned after one voyage of three years to the 
Arctic seas, well-filled with vermin, which, how- 
ever, were rendered innocuous by being baked 
over in a well-heated oven ; a supply of well- 




rlEOfVt Brwrrsin-, 



vO- 



A MEXICAN RANGER. 



TO CA/./FOA'X/A IN iS4i} rifROrcif .\fEXICO. 



677 



sailed Mcxiran jerked beef as sold by llic yard, this small brig we had about one hundred and 

sun-dried till it would have answered as well fifty men including our gold-diggers, besides 

for harne>sdealher as f(jr food, with coflee and the ( rew, the horse, and a dozen goats. We 

sugar for luxuries. These prcnisions were hail no tables, but ate our hardtack and jerkeil 

placed in .sacks and stowed under the flooring, beef and drank our tin mugs of cofTee wher- 

where they were always accessible through an ever and whenever we found it convenient, 
open hatch. Upon the outer deck, just back (Jn the eighty-fourth day from New York. 

of the foremast, was laid a temporary flooring anchor was weighed and we set sail for San 

of brick without covering or protection fn^m Francisco. Hy this time all hardships were ac- 

the weather or the sun, and this constitutetl c epted as a matter of course, and each man 

our cooks' galley, each mess having its own made himself especially jolly over every new 

cook. We paid Captain Savage $80 each as danger or deprivation that was encountered. 




passage money, while the sea-stores cost us 
$30 each. About 120 of our company took 
part in this arrangement, thus paying the sum 
of $9600 for the storage part of the brig and 
$3600 more for our supplies and rations. .\s 
water was an important factor for so large a 
number at sea, in addition to the supply in 
canoes in the hold, a very large < anoe was se- 
cured on the brig's deck and fiUeil with water, 
but for economy of stowage a deck of rough 
boards covered it. In addition to our party 
( "aptain Savage had taken on board a full com- 
l)lement of cabin passengers in the little rooms 
on the after part of the brig. As these few aris- 
tocrats of the voyage had paid fabulous prices 
the captain had contracted to supply them with 
fresh provisions, and for this puqjose a number 
of goats were taken on boanl, which were duly 
served on the cabin table. Added to these 
Captain Savage, as a penjuisite, had embarked 
a Mexican saddle-horse on deck, so that on 



Put the old whalers' bread h.id t()l)c well Miaked 
before it could be eaten, and the writer as well 
as others lost teeth in the effort to masticate 
it. On account of the saltness an<l toughness 
of the jerked beef, it was found necessary to 
attach it to ropes and tow it in the sea for 
forty-eight hours before any attempt could be 
made either to cook it or eat it without » (K»k- 
ing. Sea-bathing may accomplish much good, 
but it never yet made teniler Mexican jerked 
beef. Our supjily certainly never temi)tetl the 
most hungry shark in our course. The roll of 
the sea and the tacking of our ship so far 
emptied our canoes of water that all hands, 
except the horse ami the goats, were put on 
short allowance. Our captain, who was an 
experienced navigator of those latitudes, and 
anxious to be ri<l «)f us as soon as possible, de- 
cided to take an indirect southwest course to 
fall in with the trade wind, and so sailing in a 
semi-circle to come into the Bay of San Fran- 



678 



TO CALIFORNIA IN i84g THROUGH MEXICO. 



cisco from the northwest. So we were j^romptly 
put on an allowance of something over a pint 
of water a day each, with which to make our 
coffee, dampen our whalers' bread, and gratify 
our thirst. Water of a red color and impreg- 
nated with the peculiar odor and taste of the 
canoes was served daily in this proportion to 
each mess. But there was no grumbling. Did 
we not already see the enticing ghtter of the 
yellow gold in the mines of California ? 



The time of the journey of the main company 
was : 

Days. 
From New York by bark Mara to Vera Cruz ... 24 
From Vera Cruz to embarkation on brig Cayuga ■ 60 
Voyage on the Pacific to San Francisco 30 



Total 



114 



The thirty seceders who left us at Mexico 
City arrived at San Bias two weeks after our 




A ilLylE CAKKlliK. 



On one occasion, however, the water after 
having been served to a mess was pilfered from 
the bottles. It was suggested by Doctor Brin- 
kerhoff( afterward the physician and surgeon of 
Walker's Nicaragua Expedition), that the mess 
should endure another day of thirst while he 
should place a prescription in their water-bot- 
tles. This was done with success, and the en- 
suing day, although it was very calm, several 
men (not members of the association) were ter- 
ribly afflicted with an awful seasickness. The 
remedy proved effective, and great respect was 
paid thereafter to bottles of canoe water. 

After thirty days on the Cayitga, we entered 
the Golden Gate on the 14th day of May, 
1849, ^^d I claim that we were the first organ- 
ized body to reach that port both by sea and 
land, although at that date a hundred sail of 
vessels were at anchor in the harl)or. 



party, most of them too late to be included in 
the benefits of the Cniiga charter. Both men 
and horses had broken down on the seven- 
days-a-week system. They straggled into San 
Bias, and continued their journey by land to 
Mazatlan, 200 miles north. A few of those who 
arrived first secured places on our brig, while 
some of the main body, not having sutficient 
funds, joined those who journeyed overland to 
Mazatlan. Here they chartered a small coast- 
ing schooner, provisioning her mostly with rice 
and water. After thirty days' coasting, with the 
alternation of land and sea breezes, their rice 
being almost entirely exhausted, they found 
themselves but 200 miles farther north on a 
journey of some 2000 miles. One of them, 
who was a Sabbath observer, sickened and 
died, and was buried on the shore. The small 
party then divided, a few continuing along the 



El.nJlN \f.\NSrO\'S h'/:l 71.1/ 



•79 



coast oil foot, while till- rest rcinaiiiol on the 
vessel an«l, after untold Mifferinj^ from want of 
food and water, six inontlis afterward arrived 
at San Diego, where the schooner was con- 
<lemned as unseaworthy, and the company 
St altered, making their way to San Francisco 
as l)est they could, poor in pocket and broken 
in health and ambition. 'I'hose who landed 
prosed onward on foot, mostly through a 
l)arren ami desert country, devoid of food, 
water or game, with their faces resolutely set 
towards the magnet of the gold inines. When 
game was to be had, even were it hawk or 
l)U/zard, it was killed and greedily eaten, kind, 
([uality, and cookery not being considered. 
Toads, li/.ards and crows were alike welcome, 
and any sunwarmed and stagnant pool <>f 



water was considered most refreshing. The 
horrors of the siege of Paris were ])aralleted 
by the shifts to which the party were reduced, 
and in one section of country venomous rattle- 
snakes were killed and, after being skinned and 
pre|)ared, were cut in sectif)ns for food and 
boiled. In thisway they subsisted and survived, 
and, with a determination sustained only by 
the liopeof the fortunes that aw aite<l them in the 
gold mines, tliey presseil forward through the 
l)lazing heat. For montlis they endured this, 
with no beds but their ragged blankets. The 
w riter met the first one to arrive in San Kran- 
( isco in the month of November, ten months 
after the departure of the buoyant party ^^x\ 
the deck of the Afii>ii. 
Halkknsaik", n. j. - /• C /'tiris. 



ELDFR MAR.STON'.S RIA'IX \L. 



l?'f^"^;5»^<^'<a< >1<SKS were tied to the 

^ ^''-''JX^' ^ "''"'^" "'^'^ trees that fringed 
*4l {"^ ^^^ r^ three sides of the play- 

"* ''yi-^K^^^ *•* •^''"^'"''•. Voung men stood 

•1 p ^ "o* , ./>a f^ around in groups and can- 

! J [^ ^^^^ ^ vassed neighborhood af- 

'•J ^H)« *5^ "^^v» fairs, not boisterously, but 

L* - "•* -*• **^ in modulated tones ; for 

this was not a spelling-school. They had gath- 
ered to hear Elder Marston preach. 

-A party ofyoungsters at the dtjor moved aside 
res|)ecifully, giving way to Maxa Haven, the 
schoolmistress. She greeted them jileasantly 
and pas.sed within, taking her ])lace in the nar- 
row seat, and w aiting reverently ; for what w as 
school-room by day wassanctuary by night, and 
ntnhing common or trivial should profane it. 

The house was ra|)idly filling. .Men upon 
the left hand, women on the right, cnjwiled 
the benches. 'Ihey indulged a whisj)ered com- 
ment on the i>re.sence of Charley Cook, a 
farmer, noted for his wild delight in all things 
sat rilegious. He had long been a terror to the 
w eaker preachers, and his " gang " had caused 
the premature sus|)ension of many a service. 
He stt)otl in the neighborhood as an enemy 
incarnate of religion ; yet he was honest in his 
dealing with men, given to industry and good 
rules t)f farming, antl ]>rou<l of his pro>perity 
even when remindetl that frt)m of (jM his fel- 
lows had flourished "like a green bay tree." 

Cook had often expressed a desire to meet 
I'.ltler .Marston. and all the love of order in 
the community trembled now that the" reviv- 
alist " stood face to face w ith this force of evil. 
For the preacher was himself a notable char- 
acter, lie had for years contluctetl revivals in 
the larger school-houses and rural churches, 



and hail tlrawn to his meetings great numbers 
of ijeojjle who seltlt)m went to service else- 
where. He was middle-aged, smooth-faced, 
vigorous; with a knowledge of the Hible that 
im|)ressed his hearers, antl with a fund of inci- 
tlent, analogy, anathema, a faculty for painting 
the graces and the horrors, the blessings and 
the cursings of his gospel, which sttjotl hitn well 
insteatl of iloctrine. 

Filler Marston led in singing, and brought 
with him from the fields of other successes a 
score of .songs who.se swift motion and easy 
melody (juite won his audience. He was his 
own chori.ster, and would even pause in the 
midst of a measure to correct this part or that, 
drt)pping deftly from air to bass, or rising with 
the clearer tenor till his finer ear was satisfied. 
These interruptions were nt)t resenteil by the 
homely throng that filled the house, anil each 
acquired melody was a fresher bond of union 
between them and him. 

He had been warned of the ])resence of 
Cook, the disturber, and seemed tti gather from 
the threatened opposition a strength to make 
his wt)rk the more effectiNe. He annoum ed 
his text, then, turning from the Bible, stepped 
ft)rw ard and began w ithout further preparation 
one of the sw iftly moving songs which seemed 
to form his i hief etpiipment. Beating time with 
p.dm tt) p.dm, turning thisway ami that as he 
direcietl the twining of graceful music around 
thestanilanlst)fi)|il. familiar lines, FIder Mar- 
ston laid down his gage of battle to all foes 
w homsoever. Fnding this song, he instantly 
started another in which his followers tjuickly 
joined, urged them to swifter time, lighting the 
fires of latent enthu.siasm ami fanning them 
with his own vigor and interest. 




tr.(jl.A.LU Li H. JAVIOSON. 



DRAWN BY ALFRtL- KAPHE5. 



*'l GIVE up!" 



TARRY I \r, IX Xir.\R ACCA, 



rLP:ASURES AND PKRILS OF THE CALIFORNIA TRIl' IN 1849. 




'N the last (lays of 1848 a 
number of young Vale 
graduates, bound together 
by almost brotherly fricnd- 
ship and the intimate as- 
sociation of long years of 
school and college life, 
were suddenly seized with 
a longing to join the throng 
that from all parts of our country was working 
its way by every known and unknown route to 
the ncwlv discovered gold-fields of California. 
They did not go primarily to dig for gold. 
With some of them that was but a remote con- 
tmgencv. But their professional studies were 
completed, their old companionship was broken 
up, and they were feeling the sense of isolation 
and discouragement inevitable to the early 
months of professional life, when all business 
worth having seems already captured by the 
older and more experienced. In this transition 
state, and with warnings for some that eyes 
or health were giving way, they were prepared, 
like tinder for the steel, to take fire at the en- 
ticing stories, then filling our papers and flying 
from mouth to mouth, of this new region of 
fabulous wealth, with its fruitful ranches and 
wonderful scenery, its free, adventurous life, its 
genial climate, and its golden opportunities for 
each in his own line, and to respond to its call 
to come in and possess the land, and to help in 
the founding of a great State. 

There is no comer of the earth that seems 
now so remote as ( !alif<irnia then seemed. To 
go by the Rowland and Aspinwall steamers, 
then sailing with tolerable regularity to Chagres 
once a month, would involve long delay, for 
they found that every passenger-ticket had been 
sold for many months ahead. Moreover, there 
was often great detention in crossing the Isth- 
mus, and always fever there. But there were 
plenty of other ways to choose from. The ilaily 
papers were crowded with advertisements of 
new and much-lauded routes, for which enter- 
prising men were getting up companies to be 
put through safely *' in sixty days," the'' rapid 
transit " of the time. 15rigs and schooners from 
the smallest to the largest were withdrawn from 
other work and h.istily cleaned and fitted up 
for "a limited number of pasfiengers " to go 
round the Horn, or to some one of the many 
ports on the .Atlantic from which a quick cut 



across to the I'.u iIk . and to whatever vessel 
chance might there bring them, was feasible. 

At length the interesting character of the 
region to be crossed, together with the pleasing 
address and beguiling promises of the pro- 
jector of the enterjjrise, led the Vale men to 
decide on Gordon's Passenger Line via Nica- 
ragua and Realcjo. 

The story of this trij) is given in extracts 
from letters written home at the time chiefly by 
one who went to California only to finil an early 
grave. We give below a copy of the receipt given 
him with a statement of Gordon's plan. 

GORDONS P.\SSE\GER LINE 

TO 

SAN FRANTIsCO, via LAKE .VICARAr.! A AND 
REALEJO. 

Ri^ceivcd of Ror.ER S. Baldwin, Jr., the sum 0/ 
one hundred and thirty dollars being m fart for his 
passage to San Francisco, in the aberve line. 

On payment of Balance, One Hundred and Thirty 
Dollar-, thi-> Receipt secure- to him pa--age in the 
Miiry. Caj^tain Have-, from New York to .San Juan De 
Nicaragua, from thence per Steam Boat Plutus to 
CiKAN.\D.\, on I^ke Nicaragua; or. naN-igation per- 
mitting, to Managua, Matiares or Nagarote on I^ke 
Leon, a.s may In? most convenient for landing; and a 
pa>-age from Realejo, on the Pacific, to San Francisco. 
with llammock, Bed, and Bedding for the voyage, and 
Camp accommotlations during <letention on land, en 
route. 

The following provisions will be pro\-ided. viz : 

For Breakfast. — Coffee and White Sugar — Ham, 
Fish, Sausages — White Biscuit — half a pound Pre- 
sened Fniit to eaeh ten persons. 

For Dinner. — One third of a quart of " ■ ' 
from Kensett & Co.'s preserved Soup>- 
or /\irk — I'l't.itoes, Hominy, /'eas, or Kue — Aue or 
Flour Puddings. 

For StPPER. — Tea and White .^ugar — Ham, Fish, 
or Sausage — White Biseuit — half a pound of Fruit 
.Marrihilade to eaeh ten persons. 

The aliove is to he served up dur - ' . nnd 

on tiie Lake and Land tran-u, en dt- 

.s.doon Passengers will l>e expected to fonn into 
.Messes, and the Clentlenun in rotation to lul 

serve up their own meals from the Lo<''>~> .in- 

ner pur-ued in the U. S. Ser\-icc). 1 rs who 

• ' ^ic Rooms will have a Sfc ■ "• ...cd who 

. t a fie of $;; from each | . The pro- 

■rs'^nn! Rajjga^ will hr 

•. . ^ _^ J ■ - 

alx)ve that weight taken at ij>0 per lod lb. i'a-scngers 

911 



|I2 



TARRYING IN NICARAGUA. 



are expected to assist in packing, stowing and unload- 
ing Baggage and provisions if necessary. 

Any extra charges for passports, or transit Duties 
to be borne by each passenger. The general Customs 
Business will be transacted by an agent of the Line at 
San Juan or San Carlos without charge. 

Gentlemen Passengers, if required, will have to walk 
from Granada or Lake Leon to Realejo (l>^ or 3 days' 
march). 

The Line provides an agent to charter vessels at 
Panama, Acapulco, and other Pacific Ports, so as to 
avoid detention at Realejo. 

In the unexpected event of Vessels not being pro- 
cured, $75 of the passage money and 60 days' provi- 
sions will be refunded to each passenger at Realejo, 
which will procure passage in the Mail Steamers which 
touch there. 

On the arrival of the passengers at San Francisco 
each passenger will have handeil to him 
I Barrel \\'hite Biscuit. 
y^ Barrel Flour. 

xYz lb. of Tea, in j^ lb. leaden packages. 
6 lb. of Ground Coffee, in i lb. leaden packages. 
15 lb. White Sugar. 

I Cheese (boxed up) about twenty pounds. 
Which will furnish one person with all necessary pro- 
visions, except meat, for three months. 

Every Gentleman passenger is required to provide 
himself with a Rifle or Musket. All Powder must posi- 
tively be placed in the hands of the Agent of the line. 

Geo. Gordon. 

They were to leave New York the first week 
in February, and before the second week of 
April to be in San Francisco, ready, among 
the earliest, to seize the opportunity and to 
take the tide of fortune at its flood. Day after 
day they met the brig at an appointed hour, 
but nearly three weeks dragged on before she 
sailed. 

San Juan de Nicaragua [Greytown], 

March 20, 1849. 
Dear M : 

We left New York the morning of the 20th 
of February in a fine little brig with one hun- 
dred and thirty-six passengers, bound to Cali- 
fornia by the untried route of Nicaragua, and 
under contract to be put through in sixty days. 
After pitching about in a gale which caught 
us off Bermuda, one fine morning we awoke 
and saw Hayti lying on our right, and all day 
were sailing under its bold, beautiful shores. 

Froin that time we scarcely moved a sail, 
but came across the Caribbean Sea direct to 
San Juan, with a wind always just aft, clear 
skies by day, and bright moonlight nights. 
More delicious weather I never experienced. 
On the morning of March 12 we made the 
land of the Mosquito Coast, and, running down 
twenty or thirty miles, came to anchor in the 
afternoon in a snug little harbor at the mouth 
of the river San Juan. I never was more sur- 
prised than at my first view of this place. I 
had expected it would be like Chagres, a col- 
lection of huts on some low, marshy point, and 
utterly destitute of everything like beauty or 



interest ; but I found it one of the prettiest and 
most charming little places it was ever my 
happiness to fall into. As we came in it looked 
just like a picture. The little bay with its three 
or four islands, skirted by a fine beach, on the 
outside of which a heavy surf was rolling, while 
within all was calm and still ; the steep, thatch- 
roofed cane houses clustered together at its head 
relieving the dense forest behind ; and the dimly 
seen summits of the far-off mountains of Nic- 
aragua, made to me one of the most beautiful 
landscapes that I ever beheld. My heart fairly 
bounded with delight, and in these forests I 
had many a fine ramble. How strange it seems 
to be walking under orange, and lemon, and 
tamarind, and palm trees; to be picking guavas 
and mangos; to be breakfasting on alligator 
steaks and dining on wild boar ! You should 
have seen me this morning, sitting under a 
cocoanut tree, from which I had shot a nut of 
just the right size, cutting the end with my 
machete, and drinking the rich, pulpy milk, 
watching with one eye a couple of suspicious- 
looking lizards and with the other a troop of 
some fifty monkeys who were performing all 
kinds of antics for my sole amusement. I went 
some four or five miles into the forest, and 
everything about me was so strange, so differ- 
ent from our New England woodlands through 
which I have been accustomed to wander, that 
I felt really inclined to doubt my own identity 
On one hand would be a great cactus with leaves 
fifteen or twenty feet long and full of bright 
crimson flowers, on the other long trailers hang- 
ing sixty feet from great tamarind and dye- 
wood trees. Palms were about me the buds 
of which were five or six feet long. In the lit- 
tle swamps some beautiful varieties of calla 
were in bloom, and in the branches of the trees 
were some of the most briUiant birds you would 
ever see — macaws and paroquets. Now and 
then I would start a wild turkey, and about 
noon had a double shot into an immense drove 
of wild hogs, but both unsuccessful. I take 
great delight in these rambles. Every day, 
while some of our party are reclining in their 
hammocks and complaining of the heat of the 
sun, I am tramping through the woods with 
my rifle or fowling-piece on my shoulder, or 
paddling about the bay with fishing-rod, or 
exploring among the islands or up the river, 
getting as much enjoyment as I can out of our 
detention here. We have hired a litde piragua 
by the week, and a number of pleasant days I 
have spent in it on the water. AH kinds of fish 
abound here, both in the river and in the beau- 
tiful lagoon back of the village, and if I tire of 
catching them 1 can have a hunt after guavas 
or a shot at a pelican, or into a flock of ducks 
by way of variety. I doubt if I ever was in 
better health in my life. The mercury rang- 



I'l ■ Tl"l > , '1 




HmnM iumwjri. • zit 



\\.i- XLII. 117. 



9H 



TARRYING IN NICARAGUA. 



I 




NICARAG 

SCALE OF M I 



ing from seventy at night to eighty or eighty- 
five at noon, and the sea and land breezes 
blowing with refi-eshing regularity. Every 

morning we are down from our hammocks by danger to us was the pleasantest part of our 
sunrise and in for a bath, not regarding in the 
least the sharks and alligators, which may be 



so far from the end of our jour- 
ney. But it is too true that al- 
though " sixty days " and thirty 
more have elapsed, I am no 
further advanced than to this old 
city. After a detention of three 
weeks at San Juan, the boiler 
and machinery of the steamboat 
which was brought with us, and 
had been put together, were con- 
demned as worthless, and the 
company left to proceed up the 
river, half in bungos and canoes, 
the other half on the remains of 

the steamboat. B and I 

had the sole occupancy of a 

bungo. Our captain, or padron, 

proved to be the kindest and best 

on the river, our boat's crew the 

most efficient, and we were considered the most 

fortunate of the company. What to many of 

our party was a voyage full of hardships and 



journey. The San Juan is a fine, noble river, 
abounding in fish, dotted with islands, and lined 



floating within twenty feet of us. 

City of Granada, Central America, 

May 24, 1849. 
You will be surprised to receive this letter 



on each side for its whole extent with forests the 
exceeding beauty of which no pencil could paint 
or pen describe. The deep verdure of the fo- 
liage, the many brilliant flowers, the long wav- 
ing palm leaves, the graceful festoons of the 



bearing this late date and written by me still vines and mosses intertwining themselves in a 



.^^■^^fS^-^*..^'-. ■ .-.^ 







'::"y:-(!fX':v>,y:'-^-:-..,. 



'-^SM,' ^'- '''■''■ 



UPPER CASTILLO, LOOKING DOWN THE SAN JUAN RIVER, CASTILLO KAPIDS IN THE CENTER. 

(FKOM A I'HOTOGHAFH BY o'nEII..) 



/: / AVv' ) 7.\(; /.v xicA ra (Ua. 



915 



thousand dirt'erfnt ways, \vc were never weary 
of ailniirinj;. At night our pirajiua woulil l)e 
drawn up by some sandy beatli, and we would 
spend an hour huntinj; turtle or iguana eggs 
anil catt hing fish, which with coftee made us 
excellent meals, an<l easily 
(ooked. Kor two or three 1 — 
hours we would walk up 
and down in the moon- 
light; then rolling our- 
selves in our blankets and 
lying down among the 
Ixjatmen. we would sleep 
as soundly amid the roar- 
ing of alligators and cou- 
gars, as ever I did in my 
bed at home. At dawn 
we would be wakened by 
the matin song (jf the l)oat- 
men, and iluring the day, 
when we were n<Jt ga/ing at 
ind conversing about the 
strange sights and scenes 
through which we were 
passing, reading and study 
made the hours glide ])leas- 
antlv a wav. So passed eight days, when we came 
to San Carhis, where the lake meets the river. 
1 1 ere we changed piraguas, and after two days' 
detention set sail for (Iranada. We were sorry 
enough to part from our captain, .Mercedes, 
who had really quite endeared himself to us; 
and his crew were all a hne set of fellows. We 
soon founfl we had not bettered ourselves, for 
scarcely three hours out there had like to have 
been a jntched battle between the bungo men 
with their machetes and the ])assengers, now 
iiu Teased in number to eight, and all well 
rmed. .\ few well-directed blows, however, 
titled the matter. 

it was the 13th of April when we entered 
( iranada — but I will giveyouan orderly, book- 
like description of the place where it has been 
my unexi)e<ted lot to tarry the last five or six 
weeks. The first object which indicates its vi- 
( inity to the traveler who may be navigating 
the clear waters of the lonely mountain-girt 
lake of \i<aragua is a high volcanic peak 
whi( h rises five thousand (jr six thousand feet 
boldly from the shore, with, when we saw it. 
every rocky point shar|»Iy defined against the 
western sky, but which, at this season, night 
ind mornmg veils its head in clouds. On a 
nearer approach he sees running northwardly 
from its base a long, wide beach of very fine 
-and with a ruined fortress standing midway 
upon it. This beach seems to him to be of a 
luriously variegated black and white color, and 
he gazes at it with wonder; but as he draws still 
nearer these appearances resolve themselves 
intopilesofclothesandgroupsof tawny-skinned 



women vigorously engaged in restoring the 
< lothes to purity. Their process of «loing this is 
somewhat peculiar. The w(jmen seat them- 
selves in about knee-deep water, and, taking 
the clothes as they are passed to them by little 




MCAKAlll A. 



naked children, rub them over with a sapo- 
naceous herb, and then, after soaking, pound the 
clothes on flat stones with all their strength — 
and here they are by no means the weaker sex 
— untilnolonlyevery vestige of impurity leaves 
them, but, if any fine or delicate fabric comes 
into their hands, until its substance often 
vanishes in jiassing through the ordeal. It 
needed ortly the loss of a few shirts and hand- 
kerchiefs to convince me of this. These wash- 
erwomen arc the first sign of the city, for as 
yet no mark of habitation is visible. The pi- 
ragua nears the shore, and an anchor is thrown 
out. A bold bungo man leaps into the water, 
the stranger places himself on his shoulders, 

and, if not a long- 
legged man, is borne 
dry-shod totheland. 
.\t this moment a 
dozen men on fine 
horses come rushing 
by at full speed in 
a torrent of dust 
and exclamations. 
The traveler issome- 
what surprised, and, 
seeing at a distance 
twenty or thirty 
others likewise bear- 
ing down upon him, 
begins to grow un- 
easy; but being fold that they are passing only 
for amusement, his fears are i|uieted,and he a<l- 
mires the grace of the riders and the spirit of the 
steeds. Then, leaving the lake tlirectly behind 



^ 






U.\.MJ1Xl. at (..tA;».V_A. 



9i6 



TARRYI.YG IN NICARAGUA. 




WASHING ON THE SHORE OF THE LAKE. 



him, he passes up some one of half a dozen 
roads leading to the city, bordered on each 
side by hedges of prickly cactus inclosing fields 
of plantains and pines, and he smiles to think 
how precious in our northern conservatories 
would be the ver}- weeds he is treading under 
his feet. As he ascends the gentle rise he meets 
long files of women walking along with a firm, 
erect step, balancing on their heads large 
earthen jars of the capacity of from two to four 



gallons, with which they wade into the lake, 
and, filling them, return to the city, oftentimes 
singing as they go, and forming in their singu- 
lar costume a scene quite interesting. At the 
distance of half a mile from the lake the 
stranger enters the suburbs, and begins to see 
before him the broken towers of the old time- 
worn churches, from which, at any hour of the 
day, a dozen clear-toned bells are chiming. In 
the suburbs live the lower classes or laboring 







A STREET IN GRANADA. 



TARRYING IX NICARAGUA. 



917 



ixjpulation, if they may be called so in a coun- 
try where a man rarely works if he has a " ])e- 
seta " in his pocket to buy him his dinner. The 
houses are mere huts of cane thatched with 
palm leaves, many of which a strong man mij^ht 
carry awav on his shoulders. .Ml colors may 
be seen, but most are of the Indian shade, and 
(if children and dogs there appears to be an in- 
finity. Most of the young ones have their hair 
croppe<l to within a sixteenth of an inch of the 
skin, w itli the exception of a few locks in front, 
antl it makes them look like little fighting cocks. 



but the siilewalks are only about two feet wide, 
and are raised high up from the streets, whic h 
are inundated in the rainyseason. Moreover.as 
the windowsofall the houses project a footorso 
from the side of the walk, an inexperienced pas- 
senger in the night is ajit to nturn home with 
several de|)ressions in his hat and ccjrrespond- 
ing elevations on his head. These houses, in 
consecjuence of their being built direc tly on the 
street, with walls three or four feet thi( k, large 
heavy gates, and iron-barred windows without 
blinds or gla.s.s, give the streets a somber and 




-^^. .*■ 



THE SUDL'KBS OF GRANADA. 
(AFTER A PHOTOORAfH BV O'NKIU) 



They roll about naked in the du.st till they are 
eight or ten years of age, w hen their mother puts 
scanty garments u])on them and sends them 
to school. Still farther on, ailobe houses begin 
to be mixed with those of cane, but all are small 
and unconnected until the city proper is en- 
tered. Then the streets, which are regularly laid 
out at right angles, are entirely built up with 
blocks of heavy- looking one-story adobe and 
stone houses, all stuccoed and painted white, 
w ith tiled roofs projecting .six or eight feet over 
the street, forming an agreeable shelter for the 
person who is obliged to walk out under the rays 
of an almost vertical sun. The streets are about 
as w ide as Nassau street, New York, suffici- 
ently so for carls easily to pass one another ; 



pri.sonlike appearance, which the white stucco 
with which all are covered vainly strives to re- 
lieve. Hut within they are more comfortable 
for this warm climate than I shouKl have sup- 
])osed. The dwelling-apartments, kitchens, anil 
.stables form a hollow s(iuare inclo.sing a court, 
generally well ])lantetlwith tlowering and fruit 
trees. All the interior roofs project ten or twelve 
feet, foniiing a shady corridor, where it is very 
( ool and delightful to lie swinging in one's 
hammock. \'ery little furniture is used, a few 
chairs and tables, beds and hammocks sufii( ing. 
The city rejoices in two pianos, but, I believe, 
contains no carpet. The floors are generally of 
brick, kept clean and bright, and are much 
cooler than ours, and rarely wear out. I have 



9i8 



TARRYING IN NICARAGUA. 



not seen a pane of glass in Central America, 
which is indeed almost useless, for, owing to 
the lowness of the long, projecting roofs, sun 
and rain can never enter, while the cool breeze 
is always invited. Our Venetian blinds, how- 
ever, would be very agreeable. There are, 
only heavy-barred shutters, which in early 
evening, owing to the fear of revolutions, are 
shut and locked, and the whole citv seems de- 
serted. One of these houses, strongly built of 



gether it is perhaps the best house for hotel pur- 
poses in the city, and we live in it with a good 
degree of comfort. It was here that we came 
when we first landed in the city, and it imme- 
diately went into operation with twenty board- 
ers at a dollar a day each. We were satisfied 
with our fare, but, thinking it too high a price, 
they concluded after a few days to reduce it 
one-half, keeping us for three dollars and a half 
a week. So thus we live, sleeping in our ham- 



stone and heavy wood, is at present our abid- mocks or on hide beds, as the fancy takes us, 
ing place. It is a house larger than the ordi- in a large paved room, open to the roof, where 

at any time a dozen bats may be seen hang- 
ing. We have no windows, but have two 
doors, which give us a good draft, being kept 
open night and day, a measure which the citi- 
zens consider as the extreme of hardihood, but 
of which we have felt no inconvenience except 
that of being obliged to turn out once or twice 



each night to fire a volley of pistols at a bat- 
talion of dogs, who take great delight in ca- 
reering through. Twice a day we are called to 
coffee in a long room which may have served for 
a chapel in olden times, and twice more to our 
meals — fine fish from the lake, flesh, and fowl, 
with the invariable accompanimentsof tortillas, 
fried plantains, and frijoles. The plantains were 
a most excellent dish, but the frijoles were a 
vile compound of beans and lard, and the tor- 
tillas as tough and hard as sole leather. 

But we have stayed long enough inside ; let 
us go out into the plaza. This is the main cen- 
ter of the city, a square about half the size of 
the New Haven Green, but 
without a tree or a blade of 
grass. Looking towards the 
east front, where our street 
enters, we have just before us 
the principal church, a fine- 
looking edifice which appears 
venerable more from decay 
than from years. On one 
side of it is a long, low town 
hall or court-house; on the 
left are dwelling-houses, and 
on the right the arsenal and 
quarters for the soldiery. The 
remaining side is mostly given 
up to stores and shops, but with one or two 
dwelling-houses, and one just where we are 
standing is where I have passed as pleasant 
hours as any in the country. If it is morning, 
and especially of a Sunday, the plaza is in the 
did penance, some fifteen or more " Norte- full bustle of a market. The Indians come in 
Americanos " eat, sleep, and make themselves from all the country round, some on donkeys, 
as cool and comfortable as possible. A fine, some riding or driving mules, but more on foot, 




CHURCH AND CONVENT DE I. AS MERCEDES 



nary size, on a corner two squares from the 
plaza, and was the old Convent de las Mer- 
cedes, from which the inmates were driven in a 
revolution some years ago. And now where 
formerly the nuns chanted, told their beads, and 



wide corridor runs about the house, both in- 
side and outside, where a regiment might sit 
at ease in the shade, and within is a lartre court 



and these mostly women, walking many miles 
with loads of fruit and vegetables which it would 
seem must about break their backs, and return- 



planted with mango trees, for the rich fruit of ing perfectly satisfied with a silver real {\2y. 
which I have acquired a decided taste ; alto- cents) for tlieir load. Many seat themselves in 



T.'IA'A')7Xc; /X X/C.lh'.iaC/A. 919 

rows at the sides of the s(iuare, while others go music an<l tlan( iiigevcry nij^ht in all the streets; 

about froiu one plate to another with their but of late, owing to the dread whi(h the nu- 

wares,<hatterinj; and bargaining, anti, as their merous revolutions have inspired, the s|>irits 

costumes are often ((uite gay, it presents a very of the place have departed, anil after dark, 

lively and animated scene. .At noon not a soul when we first arrived, every house was closed 

is to be seen ; everything is taking its " siesta." and double-barred, and the whole city as silent 

In the evening the scene is changed. .-\ few as a church-yard. The |)resence of so large a 

market women who have their wares undis- numberof Americans in theplace seems to have 

posed of still remain, and groups of men arc given the inhal)itants a greater sense of secur- 

at the corners talking over tiie news, but it by ity. IJul we have decided to start to-morrow, 

no means presents the animation of the mom- and, as I have my farewell calls to make, for the 

ing. W'e cannot stay long, however, before frf)m |)resent good-by. 

the belfries of the church chime out the bells, Li:nN, June i, 1849. 
the tloors open, and forth issues some baptis- Hkrr we are nowliving as systematically as 
mal or extreme unction procession, with music, the oldest inhabitant, in Leon, the metropolis 
torches, bells, and soldiers, the priest in a kind and now the ca|)ital of the sovereign state of 
of sedan chair, borne by some half-dozen stout Nicaragua, having reached the third station 
men, and followed by a train of women and of our journey — (/itit'n sahe how many more 
children, gesticulating and singing at the toji there may be before we pass the golden gates 
of their voices. .At this, all in the plaza and up of San Francisco Bay ? Kight or ten of us are 
all the .streets within sight go on their knees, occujjying a large and comfortable house two 
" los Norte-Americanos " excepted, who take blocks from the plaza, and we live in i)eace 
off their hats and moralize on the procession as and tpiietness, under the auspices of a fine old 
it sweeps along. jjriest on one side, who sends us little gifts. 
Hut the ])lace to go for amusement in the and always makes it a point to be at his win- 
evening is the lake. I'here come down, when dow to greet us w ith " gun morning," and 
the day grows cool, the young men of the city, of an equally fine old lady on the other, who 
and dash about over the fine beach on their gets up our meals in the approved style of the 
spirited horses, oftentimes having with them countryata real and medio (i83/( cents) a head, 
tlieir young lady companions, seated before The main body of our company are in Chinan- 
them on the sadille, while hundreds — and, if dega, a large town twelve leagues nearer Cal- 
it be Sunday or a feast-day, often thousands — ifomia ; but they arc in much discontent, and 
of others are bathing, walking about, or seated we prefer keeping quiet and cool by ourselves, 
in grou]is under the trees, enjoying the breeze, We have a large < ourt, with four rooms on one 
which is always blowing over the lake with the side of it, where from one wall to the other we 
most refreshing coolness. Many very delight- sling our hammocks, which serve as seats, 
t'ul hours have I passed there, often alone, lounges, and beds. Here we receive with proj>er 
seated on the ruins of the old fortress, gazing dignity our numerous visitors,and here, I think, 
out over this most lovely lake, with its clear wa- we shall stay till a vessel can be chartered, or 
ters, its islands, and high mountain shores, and everything comes to a winding-up, which is 
admin'ng the w(jnderfully jierfect and symmct- equally probable. But I must tell vou how we 
rii al outlines of lofty Dmetepe and its sister got here. Imagine me on a delightful morning, 
volcano, which rise up out of its very bosom ; the 21st of May, bidding farewell to my kind 
sometimes with my (Jranadian friends prom- friends in (Iranada, getting my pockets full 
enading the beach on foot or on horseback, of cigarritos and cakes for the journey made 
or seated under the trees eating watermelons, by their fair hands, and walking roun«l to the 
whi( h the country bungos bring in great abun- h(}tel. Directly arrived our muleteer, with six 
dan( e, and chatting in broken Sjtanish, to their animals in a row, each one with his heati tie«i 
no small amusement. If a violin happens to to the tail of the one before him. Then there 
be near, it is a very easy matter to get up a was a rush for the choice. Destiny marked out 
dance under the shade of some of the large, as mine a little black mule, sleek, well-trained, 
wide-spreading trees which border the shore, and with (piite an intelligent, animated coun- 
orifaguitarispresent,thegirlsarealwaysready tenance. On the .Mvarado 1 pla< eil myalforjas 
to sing. The Nicaraguan ladies — at least those and hammock l>ehind, my spyglass, haversack, 
of (Iranada — are very fine-looking, and they and ritle before, my blanket over all. and lastly 
seem in( lined to do all in their i)Ower to make myself. It seemed loail enough to crush the 
our stay agreeable. We are indeed a great nov- little fellow, but he bore up nobly. Imagine 
elty to them, for this is a country through which the others jterforming the same operations, and 
foreigners very rarely ])ass, and almost every finally, all being e<iuipped, amid the acclama- 
house is open to us and at our service. (Iranada tionsof a street full of spectators, filing up the 
used to be, they tell us, a ver)' gay place, with Castle Real, and singing at the top of our voices 



920 



TARRYING IN NICARAGUA. 




DANCINli ON THE SAND AT GRANADA. 



to the tune of " Oh ! Susannah " a httle song 
made on our departure — 

Me voy a Cahfornia 

A tierra muy lejana, etc. 

It would have been a queer procession to 
move down Broadway, some on horses and 
some on mules, each with his pistols and knife 
belted around him and his rifle or gun slung 
to his saddle-bow, and the animals themselves 
half buried under a weight of blankets, alforjas. 



ponchos, water-calabashes, and the like. But 
we went on bravely for a league, when adven- 
ture the first greeted us. One of our party got 
off his horse to pick up his pouch, which had 
dropped, and, he being some time about it, the 
animal began to walk oft'; the walk was soon 
changed to a trot, and then to a gallop, and 
the horse disappeared in the bushes, having 
first relieved himself of the greater part of his 
cargo by a kick and a shake. Two of us, being 
behind and seeing the mishap, dashed into the 
woods in pursuit, but soon lost the track in a 



T.4A'A')/A(; /A' AVa-iA'.'IGr.l. 921 

ina/e of paths, and returned to the roa<l to \N'e ke|)t close toj;ether, singing and whistling 
search out Andres, our guide. We went on to to indicate our whereabouts, for we could not 
join the re>.t of the party, who had disrnounte<!, see a foot before us except during the flashes of 
and were seated comfortably under the tlense lightning. Oni e we had a regular stampede. 
shade of a cotton tree, regaling themselves on Oneofthepartyattemptingtoopenhisumbrella. 
wild ])lums. In halfanhour .Andrescamebac k, every animal started with a jump. Mine lea|)ed 
saying that tlie beast could not be found, and on a high bank and plunge<l headlong into a 
that he hail j)robably gone l)ack to (Iranada, jungle, where I really thought he had stuck fast, 
whitherhewouldgoin pursuit. W'ethen wentup .Altogether it was a hard ride, and as we were 
to a little hacienda near, and, ordering dinner, obliged to go slowly it was nine o'clock be- 
awaited his return, sending out also the men fore we reached Masaya. For once I listened 
of the place under the inducement of a reward with satisfaction to the distant barking of the 
of three dollars for the gun and fishing-rod, dogs, and soon we were riding through a long 
w hich had been so securely fiistened that they street of Indian huts. At one of these our guide 
had not been thrown off. Meanwiiile we lay stopped, and, after some conversati(jn with its 
under the shade, some sleeping, some chatting, inmates, informed us there was wo posa da in 
and some eatingdififerent unknown fruits, which the ]>lace, and that all the houses were shut up 
the little naketl children delighted to bring us. through fear of a revolution ; nevertheless we 
In an hour our repast was brought to us on a were obliged to stop there. He himself was 
large tray — six gourds containing a curious in mortal fear, and kept telling us to talk 
compound, mush, chopi)ed onions, eggs, and loudly in English, that we might not be mis- 
a rather suspicious substance which from the taken for a party of revolutionists, and be shot 
spotted appearance of the skin we at first in the dark. We heUl a consultation, and were 
thought snake, but w hich the conformation more than half inclined to start again in search 
of the bones proved to be li/card, and which of some place wiiich might jjromise better ac- 
v.as very sweet and delicate. We were all commodations. But then we consiilered that 
hungry, so the gourds soon went away empty, we were wet and weary, in a strange place. 
Late in the afternoon the guide returned with- and understanding little of the language, and 
out the horse, but w ith a note from a frientl any shelter seemed agreeable. A fresh shower 
advising us to go back and take a fre.sh start coming down just then decided the question 
in the morning. This, however, we were un- at once, and in a moment every one was oft" 
w illing to do, not w ishing to lose a day ; and his saddle. A glance into the house showed 
w ho likes to bid good-by twice ? We therefore us that little was to be hoped for there. It was 
decided to take the guide's horse, while he, only a little cane hut about twelve feet square, 
notwithstanding his earnest remonstrances, and already contained at least a dozen men, 
was to go afoot. But, fortunately, just as we women, and children, with the usual comple- 
were issuing into the road the hacienda man ment of an ill-looking dog apiece. One look 
apjieared with the runaway, though minus the was sufficient, and we left for the kitchen. This 
gun. The change was made to the satisfaction was a similar structure, but smaller, and, finding 
of all, and onward was the word. Andres, how- it unoccupied, we took immediate possession, 
ever, was in a very ill humor, and his temper There was room, by close squeezing, for four 
was by no means improved bv the threatenmg of us to sling our hammocks from the jioles 
appearance of the < louds, which had begun of the roof; the other three made their couches 
to gather around the mountains of Clranada on bundles of reeils. I must say, however, that 
in a very ominous manner. He obstinately re- the people of the house could not have treateil 
fused to let his horse take a faster gait than a us more kindly. They did everything in their 
walk, and we, being ine.\|)erienced on the road, power: look careof our beasts, anil would freely 
kept the same pace. Inabout two hours — long have given up their own i)Oor beds; but sus- 
enough to have brought us to our first stop- ])ecting fleas, we thanked them, which is here 
])ing-place, though we were not more than half equivalent to a polite refusal. They also got 
way — on came the rain. It grew dark as .sud- us a much Ix-'tter supi>er than we could have 
denly as shutting your eyes, and amid the expected, charging us only the prices of the 
most vivid flashes of lightning and terrific articles ; and for half thenightacrowdof naked 
crashes of thunder a deluge of water de- boys and girls were at our iloor, waiting to ai- 
scended that seemed as though it would beat tend to anything we might require. Imagine 
us oft' our saddles. By this time we had left us, four in a row. suspended over the three 
the main road for a shorter mule-path, which others lx;neaih, hanging in nets of grass, mid- 
led through a series of ravines in which our way between the ground and the roof of the 
mules so pitched, slipi)ed, and jumped about little hut, half afraid to move for fear of bring- 
that it appeared certain that in some of them ing the whole down on our heads, and with 
we must all roll over together to the bottom, the smoke of the fire gracefully curling around 
Vol. XI. II. — lis. 



922 



TARRYING IN NICARAGUA. 



us, which, though it offended our eyes, answered 
the excellent purpose of keeping off the mos- 
quitos. We slept well and soundly, and the 
next morning rose early, and saddled our ani- 
mals, and set out for the plaza. Our guide sud- 
denly changed to be one of the best-tempered 
men in the world, and for the rest of the jour- 
ney he continued so. Nothing could put him 
out of temper, and there was nothing bethought 
would please us, or be of service to us. that he 
would not do. But we did not thank him mucli 
this morning when he led us to the door of a 
fine posada fronting the plaza where we might 
have stayed the night before. We ordered as 
good a breakfast as they could give us, and 
while it was being prepared went out for a lit- 
tle walk about the town. Tvlasaya is a place 
of more inhabitants than Granada, but of a very 
ditt'erent appearance. Granada is more compact 
than any city I have ever seen, while Masaya 
is scattered about, all the houses disconnected 
and standing among a profusion of palm, 
cocoa, and fruit trees. We had hardly gone 
four squares before we were obliged to re- 
turn, being loaded down with presents of 
fruit. The plaza of jSIasaya is very large, and 
presented a very lively scene as we rode 
through it. The market was in full operation, 
and 1 should think at least a thousand men and 
women, in costumes gayer than any I have 
seen in any other place, were busily engaged 
in exchanging their wares. . . . Two miles 
[from Masaya] we came to a little village the 
remembrance of which is like that of a beauti- 
ful poem. Said B , " I could live here for- 
ever," and we all felt saddened as a turn in the 
road cut off our parting glances. 

Alittle farther on a magnificent scene awaited 
us. We came to where the road crossed a vast 
stream of black lava, which had rolled down 
from Masaya mountain overwhelming and 
destroying everything in its course, and had 
passed down as far as we could see towards 
Lake Nicaragua, which, with its sister lake of 
Managua and their connecting river, lay in the 
distance, the high range of mountains which 
separate them from the Atlantic bounding the 
view. About two leagues on we came to an 
open plain on which many cattle were feeding, 
and stopped for half an hour to let our mules 
and horses graze, while we ourselves dined 
on pines and oranges which we had brought 
with us. 

From this point the road led through the 
forest four leagues to Managua, and here we 
were called upon to admire a new kind of 
beauty — large trees of the size of our elms, 
with not a leaf upon them, but covered in their 
place with flowers, some of a bright 3-ellow 
and others clear red and white. ^Vhen I say 
covered, I mean all covered, like the stem of a 



hyacinth, a hundred on a twig. Where they 
overhung the road, our horses often would 
be fetlock deep in the blossoms which had 
dropped, and yet there was apparently no 
diminution on the branches above. They were 
not coarse and ugly, but delicate and fragrant, 
the kind which the ladies of this country most 
delight to entwine in their hair. One sight I 
saw which I could only stand and gaze upon 
with delight — one of the largest of these 
trees, and one of the richest in this new kind 
of foliage, with an immense vine covered with 
blue and purple flowers winding up to its top- 
most boughs, and hanging thence in long and 
rich festoons, forming a most complete bower. 
As if to make perfection more perfect, among 
the branches were perched two macaws, the 
most beautiful birds of the country, with the 
richest red and blue plumage, and drooping 
tails a yard long. About sundown we reached 
Managua, a large town and the true ca]jital 
of the State. It is situated on Lake Ma- 
nagua, where we had a delightful bath, and 
then returned to the posada, the best in the 
State, and kept by a man who owns a planta- 
tion some leagues square on the Pacific, from 
the products of which he set us out a most ex- 
cellent supper. We slept here between sheets, 
and on pretty fringed pillows, which were so 
soft we were loath to leave them in the morn- 
ing. But in this country the time to travel is 
the early morning or the cool of the evening, 
the middle of the day being very hot. Our 
forenoon's ride was to Matiares, six leagues. 
The road crossed a mountain from which there 
was a superb view of Managua Lake with its 
numerous bays, promontories, and islands, with 
Momotombo and Momotombito rising in full 
view, the loftiest volcanoes in the country, 
visible fifty leagues away on the Pacific. To- 
day we met numerous travelers and long trains 
of freight-mules. Troops of monkeys and apes 
and flocks of parrots enlivened the way, and 
now and then a deer would start up and bound 
away through the bushes. We took our siesta 
on the plaza of Matiares, the town itself, which 
has been pretty much destroyed in a late revo- 
lution, offering no accommodations for us. 
In the afternoon we went four leagues farther 
to Nagarote, a large place, where we passed a 
comfortable night in the house of the school- 
master. Much of our way was along the bor- 
ders of the lake, heavy traveling for our ani- 
mals, but from the change of scenery pleasing 
to us. The next day twelve leagues brought 
us to Leon. You see I am running on, for if 
I should describe minutely all the incidents 
of the way, both you and I would be well 
tired. . . . 

June 26. Twenty-five days later from 
Central America : as many more, and we may 



\ i;*' * 




924 



TARRYING IN NICARAGUA. 



call ourselves old citizens, and, for aught I 
know, be entitled to vote at the next election. 
We are still living at Leon, nine of us, enough 
to keep one another in countenance in this 
strange city. A week since I rode over to 
Chinandega to look after our baggage, and 
spent a day there to see what was going on and 
to watch the course of things ; and I returned 
very well satisfied to remain where I was. 
Though we have been detained in this coun- 
try more than three and a half months, — it may 
be a month longer before a vessel will arrive 
at Realejo to take us up the Pacific, — still we 



by priests and in fear of a vagabond soldiery. 
But here reside the British and the American 
consuls, the bishop, the general, the director, 
and all the dignitaries of state. Two gentle- 
men from New York are also here, engaged 
about the canal treaty. We are on somewhat 
intimate terms with a number of families resid- 
ing here, going in and out when we please, as 
the custom of the country is. The posada has 
been a favorite place of resort for us. The 
landlord and the landlady are a perfect study 
for a seeker of" characters." But they are very 
kind to us, and are exceedingly anxious to have 





ili,^^ 






J- ■»«? 






"j- 



A STREET IN Le6n. (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BV o'nEIL.) 



have passed through a land full of interest, at 
least to a young traveler. The natural features 
of the country mingle beauty and sublimity to 
the highest degree, and the climate must be 
one of the most delightfully salubrious and 
healthful in the world. Much of my stay has 
been made exceedingly pleasant by the hos- 
pitality of the people, particularly in Granada, 
where I became really quite attached to many 
kind friends. 

Leon is a city of much more pretension than 
Granada, but of not half the stamina and re- 
spectability. Granada is sound and whole; Leon 
is decayed, prostrate, its people overridden 



their daughters learn English. One of their sons, 
a little fellow of fourteen, is an ensign in the 
army, and a daughter is married to General 
Muhoz ; so they are all very patriotic, and heart- 
ily hate the " Colandrakes," as the opposition 
party are called. We have called once or twice 
on the General, and have been received very 
courteously. He is a gentlemanly man, and 
looks just like the lithographs of Santa Ana, 
La Vega, or any other of the Mexican chief- 
tains, mustachios and all. But whatever may 
be his military qualifications, he must test them 
now, for he is required to go down with his army 
anti to face Samosa, an assassin and leader of 



TARRYIXG IX NICARAGUA. 



925 



tlic opposition, who has just taken and burned 
the city of Nicaragua, committing there the 
most terrible atrocities. We went u]) into the 
plaza this afternoon to see them off, and, not- 
withstanding the uniformless and ragged ap- 
pearance of the troops, it was really a solemn 
s|jectacle when the bishop with his retinue of 
jjriests, after jjreaching them a sermon, gave 
them his blessing, and bade them go and fight 
for their country. Meanwhile Samosa was be- 
ing excommunicated in the < atheilral, the bells 
were clanging, cannon were firing, and all Leon 
was in commotion. 

After they had filed up the street the Gen- 
eral anil his staff came out from his cpiarters 
in the posada, and there wa.s another scene, 
his wife and sisters in tears, bidding him good- 
by, an<l lamenting that they should never 
see him again. Soon all galloped off, and we 
folhnved to the river, and in the distance it 



sponse always is, " yl///v /'/>//," and we pass 
where we plea.se. 

.About a week ago a messenger c.ime u|> 
from the Sovereign Director of tlie State, ask- 
ing us to change houses with him, as he wished 
to fortify ours. We answered," With pleasure." 
and at evening a cart and an escort came for our 
baggage. We loaded it and, taking our guns 
and rides, marched down with it to the plaza, 
singing as wc went, for it is a custom with us 
when we find ourselves in queer situations, 
which is often theca.se, to .sing certain songs at 
the top of our voices. .As soon as wereached the 
plaza up came a file of soldiers antl a full band 
of music with torches and lanterns, and esc(^rte< I 
us down in the most triumjihal way. .At the 
door they gave us a serenade ending with the 
" American March," the little boys cheered, 
and we entered. The President set out a table 
for us, and we were waited on as (luite a dis- 






1i! ^ >t! 




CiJfa 



THE SEAPORT OP KKAI.KJO. 



was (piite a striking sight t<j see the troops 
marching uf) the long, broken hill, the horse- 
men bringing up the rear with a blood-red 
pennon streaming from the point of each 
lance. Nothing will give you a better idea of the 
political condition of this country than to tell 
you that since we have been here there have 
begun and ended in the dift'erent parts of the 
country seven or eight revolutions. Each city 
has one on its own responsibility, and the au- 
thorities are in nightly fear that one will break 
out here. These revolutions have kept us in 
an interesting state of e.xcitement. The city is 
under martial law, police orders are read daily 
at the dirt'erent corners, sentries are doubled, 
and it is half what a native's life is worth to 
go wandering about after dark. Hut we Yan- 
kees are privileged. We have dropped the 
regular passwords, and answer to the chal- 
lenges, " Americanos del Norte " ; and the re- 



tinguished party. What to make of it all we 
hardly knew, but the next day we were in- 
formed that we were considered as a guard of 
honor to defend the President's house in case 
of a rising. We laughed heartily, l)ut congratu- 
lated ourselveson theexchange,as we had. rent 
free, a fine, spacious "house on the best street 
in the city. Nine rooms, one for each of us, sur- 
nnmd the j)rinripal court, and in tiie rear are two 
others, where are the stables and the kitchens, 
all well planted with lime, orange, mumbro. 
and fig trees, and the main one jtossessing a 
s|)lendid jasmine bush, fully twelve feet in di- 
ameter, and geraniums and heliotro|)es all in 
full flower. We have each selected a room and 
hung our hammocks, and I feel (juite as if I 
had a home. 

July /J. Chinandega. There is really now- 
some prospect of our getting otT. Two vessels 
are lying in the harbor of Realejo, and when 



926 



TARRYING IN NICARAGUA. 




A NICARAGUAN EXELTTION. 



you receive this you may think of me as far up 
the Pacific, if not already within the promised 
land. We have spent more than four months 
in this strange country. So far as regards my- 
self, I have enjoyed it highly; the constant nov- 
elty, the singularity of our position, our manner 
of life, and the continual succession of strange 
scenes through which we have passed, have 
prevented anything like stagnation. We are 
now in Chinandega — but I must tell you of a 
little trip we made before we came here. On 
the day after my last page was written letters 
came from our charge d' affaires, Mr. Squier, 
who had arrived at Granada, informing us that, 
on account of the turbulent state of the country 
and the interruption of communication on the 
highways, fears had been entertained, if not of 
the personal safety of himself and suite, at least 
of a long detention, and requesting us to form a 
party and be in readiness to march peaceably 
down and escort him from Granada to Leon. 
Soon after came other letters to our consul 
giving him the information that Masaya was 
occupied by Samosa's troops. On this he 
thought that, although he had sent to Chinan- 
dega for others to come and join us, it would 
be best, on the whole, for us who were in Leon 
to go down at once. We therefore repacked 
our movables and went up to the consul's 
house, leaving the President's mansion with 
the fig trees and lime trees as a guard of honor. 



The next day we spent in procuring horses. 
Four or five very fine ones were brought in from 
a hacienda a few leagues out, and the comple- 
ment was made up from the cuartcl, where we 
had the liberty of choosing from a hundred or 
more. Behold us then in the service of our 
own Government, and going down to the wars 
to escort our charge d' affaires. The next morn- 
ing we started, ten of us, all capitally mounted, 
and in an extemporized though better uniform 
than had yet been seen in Nicaragua — red 
shirts and white trousers, with pistols and knives 
belted around us, and short carbines obtained 
from the President's private armory at the pom- 
mels of our saddles. As the government had 
been trying m every way to procure our ser- 
vices, it seemed the universal opinion, as we 
dashed through the streets, that we were the ad- 
vance guard of a party going down to assist the 
General, and great was the sensation it excited. 
Our consul intended to be of the party, but 
the night before was taken down with fever. We 
crossed the river, and entered upon the Camino 
Real. This was a very different way from that 
in which we traversed the country before. Then 
we were going slowly from one town to another, 
loaded down with baggage and obliged to as- 
sume an easy traveling gait. Now we were free 
and unencumbered, our spirits high, and our 
horses fresh, and we could gallop and race 
along as we liked. In three hours we made Pue- 



T.-i/^A'V/Xc; /X NICARAGUA. 



927 



Ilk) Xuevo, eight leagues away, but not with- 
iiut an accident on the way. One of our party 
liad a sunstroke. At I'ueblo we st()|)|)e<I two or 
tlirechoursintheheatoftlietlay toihneantlgive 
our horses "zacate." It was St. Peter's day, and 
all the young men of thejiKue were on horses 
ra« ing thnnigh the streets hke madmen. Two 
I lays in the year tliey have this custom, whicli is 
amusing to see. NN'e proceeded thence to Na- 
garote, where one of our ]»arty who was taken 
with tliecountry feveron tlie road liad toheleft. 
We were detained till after dark, but tlecided 
on pushing on to Matiares that night. It was 
a lovely moonlight evening, and you may be- 
lieve that our ride by the siile of the lake 
shadowed by old Momotombo was enchanting 
enough. It waslate when wereached .Matiares, 
a miserably poor town, where the l»est house 
could show us no better accommodation than 



for them all through Central .\merica.) Kven- 
ing brought us to Masaya, where, as wc ha<i 
made fourteen leagues, anci it looke<l like 
rain, we (<)n<lude<l to stop for the night. We 
found here the (leneral and his troops, but 
aside from them a more deserted-looking tf)wn 
I never behehl. It was in Masaya that this 
latest revolution was |)lottefl, and the richer 
I)ortion of the inhabitants had in alarm retire<l 
to their ha< iendas or hatl gone t(j CJranada, the 
stronghold of the " Timbucos," who are the 
aristocracy, while, on theapjiroach of Munoz. 
the lower classes — the "C'olandrakes" — had 
gone oft" to join Samosa, or had scattered them- 
selves through the country. We had met num- 
bers of them on the way. .All the- houses about 
thei)Iaza wereclosed.theposada included. lUit 
on applying to the (ieneral, he ([uartered us with- 
out any ceremony in a hou.se near the cuartel, 




THE JOIKNHV IN THE MAKKET-tART. 



one hammo(k, one table, a bench, and the 
floor. On the latter I laid myself, wrapped in mv 
blanket, and, in spite of the opposition of a legion 
of tieas anil biting ants, gained a few hours 
of good sound sleej) after my ride of fifty- 
one miles. .\t sunrise our horses were saddled, 
anil after a bowl of coffee we went on to .Man- 
agua to breakfast. I )uring the time we stopped 
here I went with a (iranadian friend to visit 
some of his relatives, as beautiful girls as one 
would see in any country. ( Managua is famous 



and gave orders in another direction to have 
supper pre|)ared for us. The next dilViculty was 
the impossibiliiv of buying todder tor our horses; 
but on further application a file of soldiers were 
sent who came with a supply, probably taken 
from the nearest cornfield. Riding through 
the pla/a the next morning at sunri.se, we saw 
the troops drawn u|) in long ranks, and a few 
people standing about in groujjs as if awaiting 
some event. .Stopping our horses a few mo- 
ments, there came out from the cuartel a mel- 



928 



TARRYING IN NICARAGUA. 




A I'OOK SUbblllLlb. I'OK bl'-t-h. (btK FAGE 93I-) 



ancholy procession headed by a man dressed 
in coarse white shirt and drawers, and with 
ropes around his ankles and wrists. He was 
carrying a large black crucifix, and was flanked 
by two priests reading aloud out of large books; 
behind came a file of soldiers with loaded mus- 
kets. Just then the bells began to chime a 
funeral dirge, and we knew that a military exe- 
cution was about to take place. I will not de- 
scribe it to you, for it was barbarously done; 
but the prisoner met his death like abrave man. 



He was one of the plotters of the revolution, 
and a bad character generally. General Munoz 
had caught him here, and gave him but a short 
time to prepare for his fate. . . . 

It was very delightful to walk once more 
through the streets of the old city, for we all 
felt a kind of affection for Granada, the place 
where we had experienced so much kindness 
and hospitality. And it was very pleasant also 
to bathe once more in the bright waters of the 
lake. Cool and refreshed, we returned in time 



TA Rl< ) IXC IX X/C A A'. I C UA. 



929 



to sec the grand entrance of MuMoz into the (ity, 
which brought out all the people and set all the 
hells to ringing. Me brought in five more pris- 
oners, all of whom, I presume, have before this 
shared the fate of the poor man at Masaya. 

'I'he two days that we passed in Oranada 
tlew away very agreeably. In the early morn- 
ing of our departure the (ieneral held a review 
of his troops, about a thousand in number, jire- 
paratory to marching down towards Managua, 
where we have since heard that he has beaten 
.Samosa in one battle, and now has him penned 
up in a little town by the lakeside. About ten 
in the morning we collected at the house where 
.\lr. S(]uier was stopping, and, our party being 
increased to over twenty in number by the 
addition of Mr. Scjuier and his suite, and some 
others, we rode into the plaza. There an otti- 
cer met us and invited us to the residence of 
the General, who with his staff was anxious to 
escort us out of the city. Meanwhile -merchants 
antl other citizens were continually riding up, 
and soon we were more than fifty in number. 
We had a beautiful United States flag of silk, 
and with that streaming ahead we made a gal- 
lant show as we passed up the street leading 
to the highroad. 

Night brought us to Managua, and we gal- 
loped through its princijial streets, four abreast 
and Hag waving, to the posada. We had 
scarcely disposed of our animals and seated 
ourselves to a quiet supper when we heard 
musket-shots and exploding rockets, and saw 
many people running by with arms in their 
hands. We hardly knew what to make of ir, 
but soon a great company with soldiers and 
music came to our door, and then we learned 
that on our entrance, our numbers being mag- 
nified by the darkness, we had been mistaken 
for an army from (iranada come to attack the 
place. The inhabitants had rushed together 
in alarm, but on tmding out the true state of 
the case they had come to invite us to march 
about the town in procession. So out we went, 
unfurling our banner, and with that and the 
music in advance, Mr. S(iuier and his escort 
following, and with a train of three or four 
hundred .Managuansbehind,kej)tin good order 
by the soldiers, we passed through all the prin- 
ci])al streets. We were greetetl at every turn by 
loud cheers of" Vivan los Norte-.\meri( anob! " 

Vivan los Estados Unidos ! " "Vivan el 
ministro de los Estados Unidos!" " Vivan las 
Banderas I " etc., to which we responded in our 
best Spanish, " Vivan the brave NIanaguans!" 
• Viva the fine ladies of Managua I " and fifty 
Dther vivas, always giving the real Vankee " hur- 
rah," which greatly pleased them. Rockets were 
going up, guns were firing along the whole line, 
and all the senoritas of Managua seemed to 
be out in the moonlight. The crowd would 
Vol. XLII.— 119. 



n(n release us till very late, and then not until 
we should give them " a patriotic song," with 
whi( h they seemed perfectly delighted. 

I'he next day was the glorious Fourth of 
July. We had intended to have some little 
celebration of it among ourselves, but, circum- 
.stances requiring the early presence of Mr. 
Scjuier in I. eon, we j)assed the whole day upon 
the road. ( )ften, however, a shout or a snatch 
of" Hail Columbia " attested that we were not 
unmindful of its presence. The night we spent 
in Pueblo Nuevo, where we found the friend 
we had left ill recovering, and so far upon his 
return route. At eight the next morning we 
continued, and in less than three hours were 
at the"Uld Convent," a league from Le(')n. 
where a large escort was awaiting us — all the 
military and civil officers, the President and 
his cabinet, the bishop and his retinue of 
clergy, and a large number of the most re- 
spectable citizens, more than a hundred in all. 
Here we stopped a few moments, while Mr. 
Squier changed his traveling dress for his 
official uniform, and we washed and brushed 
ourselves a little; then our banner was un- 
furled, and the whole cavalcade started. We 
went on at full gallop across the plain of Leon, 
down the hill, across the little river, and up into 
the city. My little horse, notwithstanding the 
long journey, was fairly dancing with excite- 
ment. Entering the city we found the streets 
crowded with people, who all kneeled as the 
bishop i)assed, and then rose and shouted 
"Viva! Viva!" to the Minister. The bells of 
all the churches that we passed rang their gay- 
est peals, cannon thundered in the plaza, and 
all the soldiers were drawn up to receive us 
with presented anns. .Vnd thus we concluded 
our second trij) across the country. 

We stopped for a day at our consul's, and 
then with two others I cameon to Chinandega. 
For the sake of variety, and in order to be with 
our baggage, we made the journey in a market- 
cart, and it beat all kinds of traveling that I 
ever saw yet, bungos not excepted. I will not 
attempt to describe it, except to say that l)eside 
us three the cart contamcd two women, two 
babies, one man, and three boys; that we had 
one upset in a thunder-shower down a steep 
bank, and those who were not rolleil out into 
the mud were nearly sufl'ocated in the cart ; 
and that we were all night on the road, during 
the whole of which the women amused them- 
selves with singing the f|ueerest, strangest 
songs that I ever yet listened to. 

'I'he I*".nglish consul, who has always shown 
us great civility, oftered to our immediate party 
the use of his house in Chinandega, altogether 
the finest in the place, and we have been here 
a week or two very comfortably situated. The 
consul's proper residence being at Leon, we 



93° 



TARRYING IN NICARAGUA. 



have the whole house, with two or three atten- 
dants to wait upon us. 

San Francisco, Alta California, 
October 4, 1849. 

The main part of our company finally left 
Realejo in the brigantine laura Ann on the 
20th of July. At different times several small 
parties branched off from us, and more than 
once I was strongly urged to try my fortunes 
with them; but for reasons which satisfied me 
I steadily declined, notwithstanding one long 
and most vexatious and outrageous detention, 
and the result showed that I was right in my 
determination, as you shall sliortly learn. 

First, however, for our voyage. For the first 
month we met with the usual succession (in 
those seas) of calms and heavy squalls, for days 
together rocking in the long swell and not mak- 
ing a mile, the surface of the ocean without a 
ripple, and the sails flapping idly against the 
masts. Then suddenly in the night would come 
up a squall which would make the ocean seem 
a sea of fire and, perhaps with the loss of a sail, 
drive us many miles on our course, for all came 
from the eastward. All of that time I slept 
on deck, for you may believe that with 120 
men on a vessel of only a little over 100 tons 
burden, the accommodations below were very 
limited. 

We had not long left port before it was dis- 
covered that much of our water had leaked 
from the tank in which, in lieu of casks, it had 
been placed, and, in addition, that a large share 
of the provisions had actually spoiled, and the 
best were hardly eatable. Indeed, so long as the 
meat lasted, not a piece was put upon our table 
the smell of which would not have sickened any 
but a California immigrant. On this part of our 
voyage a strange sickness appeared among us, 
which in one night attacked nearly every per- 
son on board, and afterward not a person es- 
caped. It was akin to the influenza, but with 
peculiar symptoms, and though, as it seemed, 
not dangerous, yet an exceedingly troublesome 
complaint. For some days not a sailor was fit 
for duty, and the passengers worked the ship. 
I had it somewhat severely, and for more than 
ten days. It was determined to put in at Mazat- 
lan or San Bias for water, after we had been 
three weeks on an allowance, and had found 
that it would not be possible to make San Fran- 
cisco with the stock that we had ; but off Cape 
Corrientes a southeaster came up which bore us 
before it to Cape St. Lucas. ... As day after 
day and week after week passed by, and we 
were making almost no progress against the 
constant northwester which blew down the 
coast, pint after pint was knocked off our al- 
lowance, and our provisions became exhausted, 
one kind after another, until finally they had 



become reduced to bread, rice, and beans, with 
one quart of water a day for each man, for 
cooking as well as for drinking. The bread was 
full of worms and defiled with cockroaches ; the 
rice was of a quality that would not bring one 
cent a pound in the States, half hulls, and with 
as many w^eevils as kernels ; the beans were of a 
peculiar kind, and the more they were boiled 
the harder they became. There was no water to 
be wasted on them. So that my fare was half a 
pint of water's worth of boiled rice morning and 
evening. That left a pint for drinking during 
the twenty-four hours, and little enough we 
found it too. On this diet I lived for about two 
weeks, and like the prodigal son would have 
been thankful enough for the mush with which 
grandfather's hogs are fed, and many nights 
would have been glad to get my mouth into 
the dirtiest puddle that Chapel street ever saw. 
At length, finding it impossible to make San 
Diego, the port we were aiming at, we ran into 
shore at a venture one evening in September, 
and, coming on soundings in a thick fog, an- 
chored, having then but eighty gallons on 
board. This time we were truly favored. The 
second boat sent on shore quickly returned, 
bringing the news that directly opposite was a 
basin of pure fresh water not ten steps from 
the beach, and that the surf was not so high 
but the casks could be floated off. What rejoic- 
ing there was ! If it had been broad dayhght, 
and if the captain had known of this water, he 
could not have placed the ship in a better situa- 
tion than he did, running in to an unknown 
shore in the night, with imperfect charts and in 
a thick fog. 

But now' read the most remarkable thing ! 
We had not lain thirty- six hours in this out- 
of-the-way spot when a vessel which was also 
out of water, passing by, saw us, stood in, and 
anchored alongside; and this vessel proved to 
be a Peruvian brig loaded with provisions for 
the California market, and with the owner of 
the cargo on board, who, having become dis- 
pirited by the length of his voyage, which had I 
already exceeded four months, and having I 
heard at the ports below that prices in California 
had gone down, was disposed to sell us all we 
wanted on very reasonable terms. So we bought 
of him flour, cheese, sugar, and lard of most ex- 
cellent quality — a providential supply indeed, 
for, after getting our water, we should soon have 
been put to great straits for food, having in fact 
nothing eatable on board. The place where we 
were, a bight in Lower California, abounded 
also in fish, and several barrels of fine mackerel 
were caught and salted down, a fine bed of rock 
salt having been discovered on shore. Some 
cattle were driven down from a farm twenty or 
thirty miles back, three of which were bought 
and killed, so that from a state of absolute want 



rARRVfNG IN NICARAGUA. 931 

\vc suildcnly frHitvl ourselv.-s in the midst of broken-down mule that had been left by the 

l)lcnty. . . . wayside. Othersofour company joined a party 

At night we < oiilil camp on liie shore, the which cnme up from Panama in an iron boat, 

wreck, of a whaleboat which was found near For months they suffered everything. At length 

supplying the wood for our hres. While here speaking a steamer, one leapecl into the water, 

the supercargo, both mates, and all the sailors crying that he was perishing. A rope wasthrown 

but two ran off" and went up the country. The to him, and he was dragge<l on board the 

supen argo was a knave; he took with him all steamer; the others have nc\(T \(t Ix < n h<;ird 

the charter money, and probably never intends from. 

to show his face in San Francisco. The first A bungo was also fitted out from Kcalcjo 
mate was a villain, had been a pirate, a wrecker, many weeks before we left. The f;ite of that, 
and a mur»lerer, anil hail made any amount of too, is unknown, and probably none live to re- 
trouble on board. We were glad to get rid of veal it. 

him. The others were good men, and were se- Here the most thrilling tales <.i huiicnngs 

duccd by the mates and thesu|)ercargo. But the hourly meet the ear. Hut, .so far as we know 

places of all were well supjjlied by members of with certainty, not a death nor even a danger- 

our companv who hail been sailors before, and ous attack of illness has occurred in all our 

with a new crew we again set sail. Still the company which left New York. Hardships, 

northwest winds continued, and it was not un- however, and peril and hunger and thirst, all 

til more than three weeks, and when we were have been common. 

threatened with still another deficiency, that Octobt-r 7. I will not attempt to convey to 

of fire-wood, that the hills which encompass you any idea of this most indescribable jilace. 

the magnificent bay of San Francisco appearetl nor to give you my impressions of it — I have 

in sight. not the time, being too busy in arranging and 

We thought all this bad enough, but what landing my baggage. Y'ou already know more 

was it compared to what the parties who left of it than 1 myself do. Such another city never 

us have undergone ? The little sloop which I was and never will be. Sharpers, swindlers, 

mentioned to you in a former letter as having speculators, gamblers, and rogues of every 

left Realejo about the beginning of May, with nation, clime, color, language, and costume 

nine of our company and some fifteen of the under the sun are here gathered together, and 

shipwrecked party, arrived here l)Ut the day bo- no words can convey a true idea of the result, 

fore yesterday, having been 144 days on the I <io not meet many of my friends on shore; 

route, 32 days becalmed in one spot under an they are mostly in other parts of the country, 
almost vertical sun. They had only a pint of 

water apiece a day, much of the time almost S.xcramento City, October 22, 1849. 

perishing for want of food. Once they ran on 1 ih.vnk you often from the depths of my 

the coast at a venture, as we did, but found no soul for the many letters your kind hearts 

water. They dug for it, and searched the in- prompted you to write. They were better than 

lerior for thirty or forty miles, but in vain, and all the gold of the mines. IJy and by I will do 

at length were obliged to put to sea with only my part, but if you knew the whirl my brain 

a bottle of water apiece, their only chance be- has been in ever since I landed in this strange 

ing to fall in with a vessel, or to make some country you would excuse me now. 1 am like 

l)ort within five days, at the end of which time one who is looking o\\ an ever-shifting pan- 

they ex|)ected to perish. But the lucky thought orama,an(l cannot find time to say even a word 

of distillirjg entered their minds. A rude still to the one who sits beside him. Never ex|X'ct 

was made out of a tin boiler and a gun-barrel, to see me come back rich. I shall not make 

salt water was put in, and, to their great joy, much money here, except by a streak of good 

it trickled down fresh. For twenty-two days luck. I am here so late, and every avenue is 

they lived on what they could thus m;inufac- now filled up ; but I do hope to gel together 

ture, averaging half a pint a day to each man, enough to carry me back richer in experience, 

their only food three mussels a day. Some to be with you all again. \'ou can conceive 

endeavored to walk up the coast, and found nothing of this country. No account that you 

themselves in lonely ileserts, obliged for days have ever read can give you half an idea, 

together to live on cactus, and were almost be- l)ouble everything, and believe that then you 

side themselves for joy when they found a poor, know not the half. 

Ro^er S. Baldwin^ Jr. 



LINCOLN'S PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 




ARTLY as a blind inference 
from his humble origin, but 
more from the misrepresen- 
tations made, sometimes in 
jest, sometimes in malice, 
during political campaigns, 
there grew up in the minds 
of many the strong impres- 
sion that Mr. Lincoln was ugly, gawky, and 
ill-mannered ; and even in recently written 
reminiscences the point is sometimes insisted 
on. In one of the little bits of autobiography 
which he wrote in the campaign of i860 at the 
request of a friend, he thus describes himself: 
" If any personal description of me is thought 
desirable, I am in height six feet four inches, 
nearly ; lean in flesh, weighing, on an average, 
one hundred and eighty pounds ; dark com- 
plexion, with coarse black hair and gray eyes." 
To these points we may add the other well- 
known peculiarities of Lincoln's form and fea- 
tures : Large head, wnth high crown of skull ; 
thick, bushy hair ; large and deep eye-caverns ; 
heavy eyebrows; a large nose; large ears; 
large mouth; thin upper and somewhat thick 
under hp; very high and prominent cheek- 
bones ; cheeks thin and sunken ; strongly de- 
veloped jawbones; chin slightly upturned; a 
thin but sinewy neck, rather long ; long arms ; 
large hands; chest thin and narrow as com- 
pared with his great height ; legs of more than 
proportionate length, and large feet. 

The reader's first impression will naturally 
be that a man with such long limbs and large 
and prominent features could not possibly be 
handsome ; and this would be true of a man 
of ordinary height. But it must be borne in 
mind that Lincoln's height was extraordinary. 
A six-footer is a tall man ; put four inches on 
top of that and you have a figure by no means 
common. Long limbs and large and strong 
features were fitted to this unusual stature, and 
harmonized perfectly with it ; there was no ef- 
fect of disproportion or grotesqueness. The 
beholder felt that here was a strong man, a 
person of character and power. As an evi- 
dence of this I cite two opinions concerning 
his personal appearance, made by impressions 
upon observers who noted not only the general 
effect, but somewhat minute details. The first 
is from a Philadelphian who visited him at 
Springfield, soon after his election to the presi- 
dency, and wrote this description, which was 
printed in the Philadelphia " Evening Bul- 
letin," under date of November 14, i860 : 

932 



He is about six feet four inches high, and 
about fifty-one years old. Unfortunately for his 
personal appearance his great height makes his 
lankness appear to be excessive, and he has by 
no means been studious of the graces ; his bear- 
ing is not attractive, and he does not appear to 
advantage when standing or walking. Seated, 
and viewed from the chest up, he is fine looking. 
His forehead is high and full, and swells out 
grandly. His eyes are deeply set, and, when his 
face is reposing, are not remarkable for bright- 
ness, but kindle with his thoughts and beam with 
great expression. His eyebrows are heavy, and 
move almost incessantly as he becomes animated. 
The lower part of his face is strongly marked by 
long angular jaws ; but, unlike such a formation 
generally, his chin is broad and massive. His 
prominent cheek-bones, angularjaws, heavy chin, 
and large, full, but closely compressed mouth, 
with the deep lines about it, impress one with 
vivid ideas of his sternness, determination, and 
will. The hollowness of his cheeks gives him 
a somewhat haggard look, but as he is now cul- 
tivating whiskers and a beard, his appearance in 
that respect will soon be improved. His hair is 
very dark, almost black ; is luxuriant, and falls 
carelessly but not ungracefully around his well- 
formed head. No facial muscles show more mo- 
bility than his, and consequently his face is an 
ever-varying mirror in which various expressions 
are continually flashing. Unlike most very tall 
men, he is lithe and agile and quick in all his 
movements and gestures. He talks fluently, uses 
good strong Saxon, avoids all attempts at display 
and affectations of any kind. His voice is strong 
and clear, and his articulation is singularly per- 
fect. 

My second citation is from a personal de- 
scription of him written by Thomas D. Jones, 
the Cincinnati sculptor, who went to Spring- 
field in December, i860, and made a bust of 
Mr. Lincoln. This description was. printed in 
the Cincinnati " Commercial " of October 18, 
187 1. Doubtless the lapse of years had some- 
what dimmed the writer's first impressions ; yet 
as the sculptor's profession had trained him in 
the art and habit of critical examination of 
lines and proportions, we may trust his state- 
ment both in whole and in detail as that of an 
accomplished expert. 

Soon after reaching Springfield I attended one 
of Mr. Lincoln's evening receptions ; it was there 
I really saw him for the first time to please me. 
He was surrounded by his nearest and dearest 
friends, his face illuminated, or, in common par- 
lance, lighted up. He was physically an athlete 
of the first order. He could lift with ease a thou- 
sand pounds, five hundred in each hand. In 



SAN FRANCISCO VIGILANCE COMMIT'IKKS. 



BY 



TTIF. CHAIRMAN OF THF. COMMITTF.F.S OF 1S51. 1856, AM" 1S77. 




X the 14th of August, 1S49. my 
brother and I rode from the 
Sierra foothills into the Sacra- 
mento Valley, intending to 
reach Sutter's I-ort that night. 
Early in the forenoon we were 
overtaken by a horseman, a 
finely mounted, handsome fellow, who asked 
if we were immigrants. We answered. Yes, He 
welcomed us into the new country, and said 
he had arrived some months earlier. I told him 
that my brother, who was near by. and I were 
just arriving overland ; that wc had come from 
Salt Lake alone in about twenty days, for be- 
ing well efiuij)ped we had made quick time; that 
he was the first Californian we had met, and, 
indeed, the first person we had seen in several 
days. I asked him if gold in Cahfornia was a 
reality or a romance. He said it was an as- 
sured reality, and, as a ready proof, loosened 
his waistcoat and revealed a large, long, leath- 
ern bag strapped securely to his person, in 
which he said was about three thousand dollars 
in gold-dust, the result of his labor for a short 
time. He stopped his horse, ojjened his purse, 
and showed us the glittering metal. Enjoying 
my suri)ri.se and interest, he gave me several 
handsome specimens as a souvenir. I asked 
him if it was not hazardous to make such a 
display of his wealth. He answered. No, it was 
|)erfectly safe ; that people were honest, or made 
to be honest ; that there was no room in this 
country for thieves, and there was no such 
thing as highway robbery; there had been 
troubles in the country, but the worst men had 
i)een summarily punished, the others had 
learned better, and there was plenty for all 
who would work. He gave me many particu- 
lars about the country-, the new population, the 
gold prochict ; dcscribc<l the new towns, es- 
pecially Sacramento, which hafl grown up on 
the river near Sutter's Fort, and whither he was 
then going ; gave me the distances, and ad- 
vised me of the best camping-grounds, and, 
his animal being fresher than ours, bade us 
good-by, and galloped on. 

.\ few miles farther on, turning the point of a 
hill, a ])anorama of the grand, beautiful valley 
of Sacramento, the land of promise, opened its 
broad expanse before us, apparently limitless on 
the south and west, albeit revealing fringes of 



trees skirting the streams below. Very soon 
we met wagons, horsemen, footmen in scores, 
Americans, Mexicans, Chinese (the first I had 
ever seen of these), all going to the mines, every 
man pushing on eagerly. It was al' r a 

stirring scene, shaqjly contrasting the ,... ...ile 

of the one thousand miles of mountain, valley, 
and desert we had just traversed. About 4 p. M. 
we reached Sutter's Fort, and, as directed, 
passed around it, forded the .American River, 
which was low, and found excellent grass and a 
good camping-place where several grf)U])S of 
new-comers were already comfortably located. 
Having selected our ground and picketed our 
animals, our new neighbors came with the usual 
greetings and inquiries, to which we responded 
in kind, and I reverted to the horseman we had 
met in the morning, and to what he had told 
us of the condition of the country, abundance 
of gold and provi.sions, and of the safety of life 
and property. They said it was all true; that 
no one thought at the present time of tak- 
ing anything that did not belong to him be- 
cause of the fear of prompt punishment by 
the people. I said, " Then is life as safe as 
proj^erty ? " They saifl property was perfectly 
safe, and life as safe as in any countr\- where 
people behave them.selves. Accustomed as I 
was to frontier life and to the value of swift 
and severe punishment, this ideal security for 
life and ])Foperty suri)as.sed anything I had ever 
seen, and made me fancy that Utopia had be- 
come a realitv in this new western land, and I 
said, " Here you have, then, a truly golden age 
with halcyon days." 

The second day, after having rested, I went 
to the new city of Sacramento, and found it a 
scene of activity and vitality. It was a town 
of tents, with a few frame buildings, altogether 
strongly resembling a hugecamp-' ' j.with 
many people camping in the o; . The 

streets were filled with men coming and going, 
wagons and j^ack animals loading from the 
well-filled stores ; many vessels were discharg- 
ing on the river banks cargoes of mining sup- 
plies and provisions of all kinds, and there was 
evcrvwhere a full display of pro busi- 

ness and earnest life. New imii - were 

daily arriving overland and by sea ; surveyors 
laving out building lots, au( tion sales of lands, 
cattle, and merchandise loudly proclaimed 



'33 



134 SAN FRANCISCO VIGILANCE COMMITTEES. 

cheerful activity everywhere. Sales were for accused of corruption ; the prisons were small 

cash, the currency of the country being placer and insecure, and it was boldly proclaimed 

gold-dust at $1 6 per ounce if clean and pure, through the streets that with packed juries 

and $15 or less for that which was not so and venal judges, false witnesses and dishon- 

good, supplemented by Mexican dollars and est officials, our criminal courts had become a 

Mexican gold doubloons at $16 each; there failure and a reproach. 

was very little European or American coin. I On Wednesday night, February 19, 1851, 

noticed large piles of goods outside the stores the city was thrown into intense excitement 

and tents, unprotected, and I asked if they by the report that a bold attack had been 

Avere left out at night and were safe. The made early in the evening upon the store of 

answers were all affirmative. The doors of Jansen & Co., merchants, Mr. Jansen having 

houses had no locks, or they were unused ; the been brutally assaulted and left on the floor 

tents had no fastenings, yet there were no insensible, it was supposed dead, and the house 

losses of property, as every trespasser knew having been robbed. Arrests were soon made, 

that in theft he would hazard his life. and the person supposed to be guilty, one Bur- 

This I afterward found was the condition due, was lodged in prison. A large crowd 

all over the country. The miner without fear gathered around that building and made 

or hesitation would leave his bag of gold-dust threats to destroy the premises and hang the 

under his pillow and go to his camp for a day's offender. The officials made conciHatory ap- 

work. He would leave his gold-diggings and peals and the crowd finally dispersed, though 

rocker with hundreds ofdoUars exposed without dissatisfied, and it was soon reported that on 

fearofloss: all, or chiefly, the result of very sum- Sunday morning, the 23d, the people would 

mary punishment inflicted upon lawless men assemble en viasse. In the early forenoon, I 

in San Francisco the year before, and of the walked quietly toward the premises, and was 

trial and quick execution of a its^ through- surprised to find a great crowd of people already 

out the country when found appropriating to on the spot, while others were pushing in from 

their own use what did not belong to them, all directions, many bearing side-arms. The 

This was the common law of the country. eyes of the people I met showed that they were 

This condition of affairs continued through thoroughly aroused, and the clenched hands 

the winter of 1849 and the spring and early and quick gestures of many gave evidences 

summer of 1850, during which time a large ad- of irritation and rage. 

ditional immigration came in, embracing num- The mayor and a few leading citizens were 
bers of our best people, and including many vainly trying to calm the excitement by guar- 
famihes of early pioneers, all bringing a sense anteeing to hold the prisoner securely, prom- 
ofhome-lifeand sanguine anticipation of future ising a speedy and vigorous trial, and asking 
comfort and happiness. But unfortunately this the people to disperse ; but there was no faith 
tide was met by a flow of the worst element in in these promises. All seemed impatient oi 
the world, chiefly from Sydney and other Pacific delay; no one would leave. On the con- 
Ocean ports, and, as a little foul matter will taint trary, all moved forward in a solid, sullen 
a large stream, so this matter seriously changed mass, surrounded the building, and pressed 
and endangered current affairs in California, against every entrance. Though there seemed 
Reports of robberies and assaults soon became to be no concerted plan of action, no leader- 
common ; again the pubHc mind began to be ship, yet there was plainly a common thought 
excited over the general lawlessness. Wealth and a common object. It was evident that 
was increasing, business prospering, solid im- unless the people were quickly diverted, and 
provements progressing throughout the city in some way satisfied, they would soon take 
and State ; people were hopeful on the one possession of the building, seize the prisoner, 
hand, and fearful on the other, for while our and execute him without a hearing or form 
golden era was bright, we had many sad of trial. No available power could stop them, 
proofs that our halcyon days had departed. I always had had a horror of a mob, and its 
This was no longer Arcadia. wild and hasty excesses, and it occurred to me 

The rapid and continued increase of crime that a middle course might be adopted, and a 

in San Francisco impressed on every thinking fair and speedy trial be secured by a court of 

man the conviction that some more vigorous the people, organized on the spot. So I pushed 

action of the legal authorities was imperative, my way to the front balcony, which overlooked 

and must be stimulated and insisted upon, or the people below, and catching the ear of the 

self-preservation would make it necessary for mass, I proposed that those present should 

the people to take the matter into their own immediately form themselves into a court 

hands, and assert the law and establish order within the building; that the prisoner should 

in their own way. The police were notoriously be brought before them, counsel on each side 

inadequate and inefficient; the courts had been allowed, and testimony be taken, and that the 



1- -> 



S.-iX FRANCISCO VIGILANCE COM MITTIUiS. 135 

trial should proceed fairly, calmly, and resn- done our duty, our whole duly, honesdy, loy- 

lutely, and, if the prisoner should be found ally. Many before us had thought their pris- 

innocent, that he sliould be discharged and oner the guilty ])arty, and he had proved not 

this intense excitement allayed; but if he to be; and as our action had been unusually 

should be found guilty, that he should be prompt, our time for examination and comi)ari- 

hange«l before the sun went down. son unusually short, it did not become us to 

Never in my life had I heard a more instan- act except on the most unquestioned proof, 

taneous and tumultuous shout of ap|)lause. It We could not aflbrd to make a mistake, and 

waslight breaking through the dark over-hang- surely we could not aftord to have innocent 

ing cloud. It solveil the problem and satisfied blood on our hands. With all my earnestness, 

the longings of the people. This note had I preferred that this prisoner should go his way, 

struck the chord and every nerve seemed to or that he be left to those who had promised 

vibrate in harmony. All citizens who could a full, fair, and impartial trial. We knew the 

tind room were invited to come into the build- man now too well for him ever to become 

ing, while others formed a guard without. Mr. dangerous." 

Spence, a prominent merchant, was selected as These views were adopted, and the court 

Judge, and twelve well-known citizens formed and the remaining part of the assemblage ad- 

thejury. Three prominent lawyers, McAllister, joumed, and the prisoner was left in charge 

Benham, and Shattuck, volunteered to defend of the county officers. Thus ended the famous 

the i)risoner. I asked for counsel for the pro.se- " Burdue trial." 

cution, when the house insisted upon my taking The result of this trial was not as fortunate 

that position. The trial consumed about six for the safety of life and property as were 

hours. The hall was packed to repletion, and similar proceedings in 1849. Soon the an- 

the streets surrounding the buikling were filled nouncement of outrages in different parts of 

with a compact mass of people, about ten thou- the State became numerous. In San Fran- 

.sand in all. There was great impatience and cisco the matter grew .serious, and there was 

fear of a failure in the trial, and that the pris- much discussion as to the remedy. The best 

oner would escape. Several times the people jieople were wholly absor])ed in their personal 

became so clamorous that I was compelled to aftairs; the worst were following their criminal 

leave the court-room and make a short speech instincts without fear and without obstruction, 

to satisfy them that everything was going well. On the 3d of May, 1851, a great fire oc- 

Happily, I always succeeded in restoring quiet, curred that destroyed almost the entire city and 

Whatever I said and did was satisfactory. So in which a hundred lives were lost. There were 

dense was the crowd that, on making my way good reasons for believing that the fire was the 

to the front of the building, I was literally work of incendiaries who had sacrificed these 

forced to walk over the heads and shoulders valuable lives and millions of dollars' worth of 

of the thickly packed mass of people. property for the sake of plunder, and a ver)' 

Witnesses were thoroughly examined ; the strong and bitter feeling grew up against the 
factsofassaultandrobbery were clearly proved; newly arrived jiopulation of criminal classes, 
the evidence was so |)lainly detailed as not to The conviction grew stronger every day that 
admit of doubt. Counsel were heard on both something should be done by the ])eople them- 
sides, the trial continuing until about dark, selves to rid the city of incendiaries and rob- 
when the jury retired. bers. With the view of immediate protection. 

.Vfter waiting patiendy several hours, toward a number of mechanics, merchants, anil other 

the middle of the night I was amazed to hear respectable citizens agreed to form a private 

that Judge Shattuck had secretly secured ad- jjatrol, each member of this volunteer police 

mittance to the jury-room, had made an ex- to take his particular beat, and to be on duty 

parte appeal, and secured a disagreement. a certain number of hours ever)' night. In 

When it was found that the jury had dis- case of emergency, the entire force wa.s to 

agreed, the consideration came as to what next rally at a jwint and be prepared for duty, 

should be done. It was within our ])ower to The effect was good, but the result was not 

have yet dealt with the accused as we chose, adequate : the criminal classes continued their 

and there were earnest advocates for prompt outrages. 

and summary action, who declared that justice A second great fire occurred on the 31I of 

was being tricked and (heated, and it was our June following, and arrests were made of per- 

duty to j)rove ourselves more than a match for sons believed to be the incendiaries. So violent 

such villainy, and that it would be but right was the feeling of the people that attempts 

to put the chief actor in this attempt along>ide were made to hang the prisoners, but the mayor 

the criminal. But I said," No, a thousand times and officials promi.sed that they should be 

no. Better by far that it should be so, than severely dealt with. The grand jury was 

that we should make a fatal error. We had then in session, and found a true bill against 



136 



SAN FRANCISCO VIGILANCE COMMITTEES. 



some of the accused, but by technicalities 
the indictments were quashed and the persons 
disappeared. 

THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE OF 1851. 

The want of a strong organization among 
those who wished to preserve peace and en- 
force the laws was severely felt. Those who had 
the largest interests at stake felt that unless there 
could be united action and control, there might 
be introduced a system of mob law, which 
would ultimately be more dangerous than the 
existing state of affairs. It was for this reason 
that, on the loth of June, 1851, an organization 
of prominent business men was effected, and 
about two hundred names Avere enrolled under 
what was styled " The Committee of Vigilance 
of San Francisco." The objects of the com- 
mittee were " to watch, pursue, and bring to 
justice the outlaws infesting the city, through 
the regularly constituted courts, if possible, 
through more summary process, if necessary." 
Each member pledged his word of honor, his 
hfe, and his fortune for the protection of his 
fellow-members, and for purging the city of its 
bad characters. After arranging for a concert 
of action, watchwords, and a signal to call the 
members to the rendezvous, which was three 
taps of a fire-bell, the committee adjourned for 
the evening. 

Scarcely half an hour had passed before the 
bell was tapped. On reaching headquarters I 
found a number of gentlemen, and soon after 
there was brought in a very large, rough, vicious- 
looking man called Jenkins, an ex-convict from 
Sydney, who had been caught in the theft of a 
safe from a store. He was well known as a 
desperate character who had frequently evaded 
j ustice. The committee was organized immedi- 
ately into a court, and Jenkins was tried for the 
offense within an hour. The evidence was 
overwhelming; he was promptly convicted and 
sentenced to be hanged that night. Jenkins's 
bearing throughout the trial was defiant and 
insulting, and he intimated that his rescue by 
his friends might be expected at any moment. 
We were notified by our ofticers that already 
the roughest and worst characters throughout 
the city were mustering in force to resist the 
committee. At the same time scores of our 
best citizens came forward and enrolled them- 
selves as members, while others pledged their 
support in anything we might do. 

1 strenuously resisted the proposition to exe- 
cute Jenkins that night, as I held it cowardly 
to hang him in the dark in such hot haste. I 
proposed he should be held till next morning 
and then hanged in broad daylight as the sun 
rose. Only a few agreed with me; there was 
much nervousness; the very circumstances of 



his crime having been committed at the mo- 
ment of our organization and in defiance of 
it, and the threatened attack on us by aban- 
doned criminals, all tended to impress the 
committee with the necessity of prompt ac- 
tion. Seeing that he must be hanged, I moved 
that the prisoner have the benefit of clergy. 
This was granted, but when the minister was 
left with him, the hardened criminal heaped 
the vilest insults on his venerable head. This 
hastened his doom, and his career was quickly 
closed. 

The next morning the work of the Vigilance 
Committee was heralded throughout the State, 
and hundreds of citizens came forward and ten- 
dered their approval of our acts and asked to 
be enrolled in our ranks. The unexpected ar- 
rest and quick execution of Jenkins spread con- 
sternation among all his class. The Governor 
of the State, McDougal, issued a proclamation 
and maintained a nominal opposition to the 
committee, but took no active measures against 
it. Many arrests were made of desperate charac- 
ters, and where clear proof of murder within the 
State was lacking, it was decided that banish- 
ment or corporal punishment should be the 
penalty. During the active operations of the 
committee, four men were hanged, and about 
thirty were banished. Nearly all were from 
Sydney or other British colonies, and as far as 
possible they were returned to the places from 
which they had come. 

After a session of about thirty days the 
committee, finding that the country had been 
purged of a goodly number of the worst peo- 
ple, determined to adjourn quietly. It was 
decided not to disband, but to preserve the 
organization ready for any emergency. Hap- 
pily there was no call for its services for some 
time; in fact, it was four years before the neces- 
sity of such a committee was again felt by the 
people of California, and brought forth finally 
the famous Vigilance Committee of 1856. 

As contemporary testimony to the value 
of the work of the first Vigilance Committee, 
and its significance as an example of self-gov- 
ernment, I quote the following editorial from 
the New York " Daily Tribune" of July 19, 
1851: 

. . . The summary proceedings of the San 
FranciscoCommittee of Vigilance, in the trial, con- 
demnation, and execution of the thief Jenkins, are 
not to be regarded in the light of an ordinary riot, 
much less as an example of hostility to the estab- 
lished laws, heralding disorganization and anarchy. 
Seen from the proper point of view, it is a mani- 
festation, violent, it is true, of that spirit of order 
which created the State of California. . . . San 
Francisco presents, therefore, the singular spec- 
tacle of a community governed by two powers, 
each of which is separate and distinct from the 



s.ix /'A'. IXC/SCO I ■/(;//.. I. vc/-: coMMrrrf.F.s. 



.1/ 




EXECUTION OF JOHN JENKINS. (AKTEK A LITHOGRAPH OF THE TIME, IIULISHED BV Jl STH gllKOT Is. C<>.» 



Other. They cannot come in conflict, since there 
is no agjjrcssive movement against the law on the 
partof the committee, and no attempt on the part 
ofthe regular authorities tointerfere with theaction 
of the latter. Public opinion universally upholds 
the course pursuedby the committee. This course, 
under the circumstances, cannot be called mob 
law or lynch law, in the common acceptation of 
the term. It more nearly resembles the martial 
law which prevails during a state of siege. 

.•\t this distance we will not venture to judge 
whether the circumstances demand so merciless 
a code. But we are sutficiently familiar with the 
characters of the men composing the Committee 
of Vigilance, to acquit them of any other mo- 
tive than that of maititaining public order and 
indii'idual stciirity. We believe they will exer- 
cise the power they have assumed no longer 
than is absolutely necessary to subserve these 
ends, and that their willing submission to the 
authority ofthe law, when the law shall be com- 
petent to protect them, will add another chapter 
to the marvelous history of their State. In spite 
of these violent exhibitions of popular sentiment, 
the instinct of order, t/w cafiacity for st'lf-go^'crn- 
tnrnt, is manif-sted morf stroiif^ly in California, at 
this moment, than in any other part of the world. 

rHK GRE.AT VIGIL.'VNCE CO.MMiriKK OF 1856. 

Whkn I returned to San Francisco in Jan- 
uary, 1856, after an absence in New York of 
Vol. XLlll.— iS. 



about two years, I found a great change and 
much public excitement in social, political, and 
financial affairs. Therehad been a severe finan- 
cial crisis in 1S55, and affairs were still ver)- 
unsettleil. The " liulletin " newspaper, edited 
by James King of William,' had undertaken 
local retVirm, and was boldly a.^^sailing all evil- 
doers who had again become aggressive. \'ery 
recently United States Marshal Richardson 
had been killed by an Italian gambler named 
Cora. 'I'he murderer had been imjirisoned and 
tried, but all efforts to convict him had failed. 
The excitement over the general lawlessness 
and the impotence ofthe courts increased as 
the months went by, but a crisis was reached 
only by the a.s.sassination of Ktlitor King in the 
streets, on the evening of the 1 4th of .May. He 
was shot down by an ex-convict named Casey, 
whose infamous New York record the etlitor 
had exposed. The community was immediately 
thrown intointen.se ex( itement.and the engine- 
bell on the I'la/a was rung — the familiar signal 
of the old Vigilance Committee. 

.After a hasty dinner I went to the Plaza, 
which I found crowded with excited citizens. 
Members of the old committee sought me in 

11 hi- liiMj^nation was chosen by Mr. King to dis- 
tinguish hiniscir froii) many others of tlic .same name 
in San Francisco. — Editor. 



138 



SAJV FRANCISCO VIGILANCE COMMITTEES. 



numbers and urged me to organize a new com- 
mittee. I declined these importunities ; several 
meetings were held in different places, and ur- 
gent appeals made not to allow a repetition 
of the failure of organization as was done a 
few months previously when Cora killed Rich- 
ardson. The result of all was that I finally 
consented to take charge and organize the com- 
mittee, provided I should have absolute con- 
trol — authority supreme. We organized, and 
within twenty-four hours we had fifteen hun- 
dred members, all well-known leading men 
of the city. They took a strong oath pledg- 
ing their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor 
to the cause, and promising to stand by one 
another under all circumstances, and not to 
divulge any transactions of the committee. 
The organization was to be entirely imper- 
sonal, and each man was to be known only 
by his number. An organization in military 
companies, well officered, was perfected the 
first evening. Within two days after the first 
meeting 2500 men were enrolled and equipped 
with arms, while drilling was carried on con- 
stantly day and night. Such was the zeal and 
intelligence of all, that soldiers were formed of 
men who but a few days before hardly knew 
how to handle a gun. 

While this work of organization and prepara- 
tion was progressing we were informed of nu- 
merous counter movements by the opponents 
of the committee. Word was brought that the 
roughs were organizing in large numbers, arm- 
ing, and threatening with determined energy to 
defend Casey, Cora, and their friends, at all 
hazards, and to lay the city waste if need be 
to accomplish that end. The next day it was 
developed that a strong effort was being made 



by the mayor and others to organize and bring 
into action all the militia of the State that were 
available. The larger and better part of the 
militia in the city had, however, already joined 
the committee. Renewed and specific threats 
were made on the life and property of all who 
were members of the committee, and a deter- 
mination was announced to crush the new 
movement at any cost of life, money, or 
property. 

It thus became too evident that the com- 
mittee had to prepare for more serious work 
than was anticipated, or by rights should have 
been forced upon them. James King of Wil- 
liam \\'as honest, brave, and terribly in earnest, 
but often rash. Unhappily, he had arrayed 
against him several classes of people. He had 
severely, though in the main justly, castigated 
that portion of the press that upheld or a])ol- 
ogized for excesses or irregularities in political 
affairs. He had aroused a Roman Catholic in- 
fluence hostile to himself by ill-advised strictures 
on one of their clergy. He had invited the bit- 
ter animosity of a large portion of the Southern 
element by the stinging severity of his criti- 
cisms on them in their official capacity, and his 
denunciation of them as the Chivalry, and the 
unworthy Chivalry, who had captured and held, 
or virtually controlled, for their own benefit the 
offices of the city and State. All of these ele- 
ments, separately and combined, were inimical 
to King, who by his impetuous methods and 
reckless personalities had unfortunately and 
needlessly made himself many bitter personal 
enemies. Thus, the committee was assailed as 
his champion by all these parties, when in fact it 
was not such, but was merely the champion of 
justice and of right — the child of the necessi- 








i-„5*H!S-' 










THE HANGING OF STUART BV THE FIRST VIGILANCE COMMITTEE. 



SIX /-A' I yc/scn iicii wc^r rn\i\irirFrs. 



>39 



irrSf=lJ^KA*--^^^3.'-'^ ■■'-■■J-- • !■ 




1 ) 



CHO'ovco rr M. viv.Te<i. 



PMOTOOHAf'MCO ftY TAblN. 



JAMES KING, OF WII.I.IAM. (FROM A DAGUERREOTVrR IN POSSF.SSION OF HIS SON CIIARI.FS J. KINO.) 



ticsof the hour. The committee scarcely thought 
of or had in view King's personal relations 
with his fomier antagonists. It merely looked 
at the state of affairs in the city and country, 
and the evils that threatened, and went for- 
ward in the direction f)f the work attem])ted 
a few monthshefore.whenCorakilled Richard- 
son. Indeed. sucii waslhecondilion of the pub- 
lic mind at this time that if, instead of King, any 
other prominent man had been assassinated, 
a similar demonstration would have ensued, 
though it would not probalily have so clearly 
divided the community or brought such bitter 
oi)])osition. 

\\'hile on previous occasions the city and 
State authorities had been conservatively pas- 
sive, they were now unexpectedly active and 
aggressive, the moral of which we knew might 
have weight with weak, doubtful, and negative 
people, and even with many of the best, 'i'his 
warned us to prepare for changes which caprice 



of opinion, the turn of fortune, or the course 
of time might bring forth against us. We felt 
strong in our resources, numbers, cause, and 
courage. We had about .seven-eighths of the 
people with us. 

With the opposition were some of the best 
people of the country. Their party and friends 
hail all the ( ity and .State offu es ; they had 
with them the law and most of the lawyers, 
and all the law-breakers. Their < hief hope 
was in legal. State, and liovernment aid. We 
aske«l nothing but to be untlerstood anil judged 
rightly. 

Our aims and poNJtion were soon made 
jilain and satisfactory to the leading army 
and navy officers on this coast and to the 
( 'lovernment at Washington. They soon umler- 
stooil us and always left us to complete our 
work in our own way. On May i6 I was 
waited upon by some gentlemen who said that 
(lovemor I. Neelv Johnson had just arrived, 



I40 SAJV FRANCISCO VIGILANCE COMMITTEES. 

and was very anxious to see me. He was at retire from the position we had taken ; that we 
the Continental Hotel, and would come to any did not want to be in opposition to the State ; 
point that I might indicate ; he did not know that we were as law-abiding people as any in 
where I was, or he would have waited upon the world, as long as there was any law ; that 
me at once. I replied that I would do myself our real object was to see the laws carried out 
the honor to call upon the Governor at his and executed, and if the officers of the law 
hotel. I did so, and the question of the work would not carry them out and execute them, 
of the committee was broached immediately, then it devolved on us to do it; we did not 
He asked what we wanted. I answered that we want to quit our business, our vocations, and 
wanted peace. We would like to have it with- our homes to do all this, but we were compelled 
out a struggle, but if it must be at the cost of to do it, and if he could see his way clear to 
war, then we must have war. He asked what maintain his status as Governor on the record, 
we wanted to accomplish. I told him, very to do it by all means. We did not want a sin- 
much what the Vigilance Committee of 185 1 gle court to adjourn, a single officer to vacate 
accomplished — to see that the laws were ex- his position, nor to surrender his rights nor fail 
ecuted upon a few prominent criminals whom in his duties. He said he appreciated the sit- 
the officers of the law had allowed to go un- uation, that he knew me very well (we had al- 
punished ; to drive away from the State some ways been close friends), and he knew those 
notoriously bad characters ; to purify the at- associated with me ; he had been called down 
mosphere morally and politically, and then to from the State capital ; he was now satisfied, and 
disband. I told him the names of the people he would leave the field to us in confidence, 
in this organization were a guarantee to him About two hours afterward, I was busily en- 
that there were no personal aims, or ambitions, gaged at our headquarters when a messenger 
nothing in view except the work of the public brought word that several gentlemen. Governor 
good ; that as an officer of the law, and an Johnson, Mr. Garrison, and others, were in the 
observer, he must be aware of the frightful anteroom and wanted to see me particularly, 
condition of affairs throughout the State, es- Johnson's manner was much changed ; he had 
pecially in San Francisco ; that it had been evidently come under the influence of the op- 
apparent to all that this could not be much posing party. He asked what we were going 
longer endured, and that the climax had now to do, and if this trouble could not be setded, 
arrived in the striking down of King ; that the addressing me as if he had not asked the same 
people had resolved that they would correct question a few hours before in our former inter- 
the mischief if possible, and that they believed view. I answered, and naturally addressed the 
they could do it ; that done, they would retire whole party through him, that the people of 
from all participation in such matters, and leave the city and State were tired of having citizens 
the regularly constituted authorities to do their shot down and other outrages committed as 
work, if they would. " Now, Governor," said I, they had been, and were no longer inclined to 
" you are called upon by the mayor and a class endure them. He agreed with me, and was of 
of people here to bring out the militia and try my opinion as fully as any one could be, but he 
to put down this movement. I assure you it thought the courts could remedy all that ; we 
cannot be done, and ifyou attempt it, it will give had good judges and good men, and the peo- 
you and us a great deal of trouble. It is not pie need not rise up in a mob and obstruct the 
the way to treat the question. Do as McDougal execution of the laws. I told the Governor that 
did ; see, as he did, that this is a mere local ours was not a mob, that it was a deliberative 
reform, intended to correct local abuses. Al- body regularly organized, the officers and men 
low us to take up the work and get through pledged to their duty, — it was a government 
with it, as he did, without anything more than within a government, if he liked, — and that he 
a formal opposition by the State. Do your must not regard it as a mob, because it was 
duty in issuing your proclamation and mani- clean and clearly out of the sphere and atmo- 
festos, and maintaining formally the dignity sphere of mobocracy; that we had not seen 
of the law, but leave to us the work, and we any laws executed in San Francisco for a long 
shall get through with it in a short time and while, and it was because of this failure that 
quit, and quit gladly." He slapped me on the we felt called upon by the most imperative sense 
shoulder, and said, " Go it, old boy ! but get of duty and of safety to undertake it ourselves; 
through as quickly as you can. Don't prolong that if it were done by the officers of the law, 
it, because there is a terrible opposition and a there was no portion of the citizenship of the 
terrible pressure." State more prompt to aid and support them 
I told him I had just realized the position than the \'igilance Committee would be. He 
that King had stood in, and that all of King's then proposed that Ave should hold ourselves 
opponents, or most of them, would become the together if we wished, but leave the trial of 
opponents of the committee, but we could not Casey and Cora to the regular courts, and of- 



.V./.\' JKAXC/SCO I'JiiJL.WCJi COMM I IIEES. 



141 



fcrcd to ])lc(l^'c himself that tlu'v should have 
a speedy and fair trial, and it' tlie eviilence ail- 
duced was sufficient, that they would he exe- 
cuted, I replied that the people no longer hail 
contulence in theortuers. that too many of them 
were unfortunately friends and intimate asso- 
ciates of these very prisoners. I rejjcated my 
suggestion that he allow the committee to do 



This interview was the next day re|)orted in 
ditferenl f(jrms, and brought lorlh from the 
other ])arties many disingenuous statements. 
Johnson's dorsal vertehrai proved too weak 
to stand by his word, and he never recovered ; 
yet the status remained uiu hanged until Sun- 
day morning, the i8th of May, when the Ex- 
ecutive Committee determined on further and 




F CASEY ANll I okA In 1111 M I K I sF \ r A III KS lih IIIK VlLllASCK KiMMllIKI', M\V iS. 1856. 



its work and then disband. Now they had no 
patience to wait, they were thoroughly aroused 
and were determined to go through with tlie 
undertaking, and there was not power enough 
in the .State to stop them. 

I then asked three members of the execu- 
tive to join me, and reviewed and repeated 
wliat ha«l been said, all of which was clearly 
understood. It was then asked of us if nothing 
could be done. And the answer was. Yes. 
We were solicitous about the safety of the i)ris- 
oners, feared they would be spirited away, and 
with a view to their safety we pniposed that 
a small force of our men be placed in the prison 
as an additional guard, and we pledged our- 
selves not to take the prison or make any move- 
ment against it without givmg the Clovemor 
notice, all of which was agreed to and comjilied 
with. 



promj)! action, and sent the liovemor this 
communication : 

We beg to advise xou lli.Tt we have withdrawn 
our guard from liu- County J.iil. 

The guard was soon after withdrawn from 
the building. This was a formal and necessary 
step to conclude our truce with the (lovemor. 
Soon thereafter the prisoners were demantled 
at the hands of the sheriff, and supplementing 
the demand the troops of the committee, 
numbering about 3500. marching by different 
routes, arrived at and surrounded the jail, de- 
manded the prisoners, who were taken for their 
trial, whi« h became an all-absorbing cpiestion 
and topic, and paralyzeil the opjiosition. 

The trial of Casey antl Cora was soon be- 
gun and carried on with all the attention to 
legal forms that marked the trials of the first 



142 



SAJV FRANCISCO VIGILANCE COMMITTEES. 




EXECUTION OF HETHERINGTON AND BRACE AT THE HEADQliARTERS OF THE COMMITTEE, CALLED "FORT VIC;iLANCE.' 



[This building was also called ** Fort Gunnybags," from the 
cannon and sentinels, and the 

committee. No outside counsel were permitted, 
but all witnesses desired by the prisoners were 
summoned and gave their testimony in full. 
Both were convicted of murder in the first de- 
gree and sentenced to be hanged. The execu- 
tion took place on the morning of Mr. King's 
funeral. I'he committee's entire military force 
occupied the streets near the headquarters. As 
King's funeral train moved, all the bells in the 
city chimed a solemn requiem. The military 
force was brought to present arms, and then 
poor Cora and Casey were swung into eternity 
from the scaffold in front of the building. That 
great and solemn act, due to self-defense and 
the safety of the community, was fulfilled, and 
these turbulent spirits who had defied the laws 
of God and man paid the last and severest of 
penalties. No one more than the chief actors in 
this drama felt the gravity and solemnity of the 
occasion. No one would more gladly have been 
acquitted of these duties than they. But there 
was not a scintilla of hesitation, doubt, or fear. 
The work was done under solemn dictates of 
duty, even with pure Christian spirit, and while 
technically outside the law, with due and solemn 
reverence for the law as it should be executed. 
At a meeting of the committee on May 20, 
three members were delegated to wait on the 
Governor and on the mayor, and assure them 



material of the breastworks in front of it. On the roof were 
alarm-bell of the committee.] 

that the committee had no desire or thought 
of interfering with the regular discharge of 
their duties, and only desired to take cognizance 
of outrageous cases of crime and rowdyism 
which the laws had been tardy in executing or 
could not reach ; that we did not encroach on 
the regular execution of law or the maintenance 
of order, and would not, provided the laws were 
enforced or carried out ; but we desired peace 
and order, and it was that consummation we 
were aiming at, and we would be pleased to 
see all legally constituted authorities proceed 
in civil and criminal cases as though this com- 
mittee were not in existence. We had not de- 
sired and did not desire to encroach on the civil 
authorities whenever they were properly dis- 
charging their duties. Such was the message. 
The next important work was the action to 
be taken with regard to notorious ballot-box 
stuffers and other desperate characters. They 
were a curse to the country. Every one ad- 
mitted it, but no eftective action had been taken 
against them. In many cases they held the 
polls at election and attacked, maimed, and 
terrified those voters who were opposed to their 
friends. If arrested, such was the dread they 
had inspired, and so great their influence \\ith 
the courts, that conviction was almost impos- 
sible. This immunity from punishment increased 



S.I.V /■/'!, iXC/SCO VIG/LAXCE COMMITTEES. 



•43 



their insolfncc and violcncf, am! it wasi-vidcnt 
that no reform could be maile while they re- 
mained in the State. W'liat was to be done with 
tliem ? I'hey could not be hanged ; they would 
be a source of cx|»ense and trouble; safe and 
satisfactory imprisonment was |)lainly imprai - 
ti( al lie. 1 1 was therefore suggested that if, after 
fair trial, the charges against tliem were proved, 
no course would l)e so satisfactory and safe as 
banishment, with a warning never again to re- 
turn under pain of death. This was adoptetl, 
and a black-list was made of all these notorious 
characters. I'".videncewascollected,and orders 
were soon given for the arrest of these men wher- 
ever they could be found in the State. They 
were tried, convictetl, sentenced, and depoiteil, 
many of them as first-class passengers, by sail- 
ing ships and steamships, at the sole expense 
of the committee, and in a style far above their 
deserts ; this was not appreciated, but flattered 
and exalted them to the l)elief that they were 
important ])ersonages and had suft'ered great 
damages, and they brought suits against the 
committee. Singularly, or perhai)s naturally, 
these suits were only brought by those who were 
best treated. Those who were shipped in the 
steerage never brought suits, and were never 
afterward troublesome. 

So ra])idly were the remnants of the work 
before the committee cleared away, that on 
June i8 a special committee decided that on 



the 4th of July the (leneral Committee would 
adjourn, the executive only continuing to meet 
for needful business. We believed we were 
far enough along to finish our work s|)(.cdily; 
but we were disappointed, for on June 2 i there 
was ])ret ipitated upon us the most unexpected 
and the severest task of the year. Judge 'Jerry 
of the Su])reme Hench of California, a violent, 
hot-headed man. and an open denouncer of 
the committee and its efforts, (juitted his bench 
and neglected his duties at Sacramento to come 
to San Francisco tf) join in the contest against 
us. In a cjuarrel over the jjossession of arms, 
Terry plunged his bowie-knife into the neck 
of an officer of the committee named Hopkins, 
indicting a wound which at the time was thought 
to be mortal. This news came like the burst- 
ing of a bomb-shell. We saw instantly the magni- 
tudcof tlie new laborand the new responsibility 
thnnvn u])on us. It was not only to vindicate 
the committee law, but to punish the |)resi(ling 
judge of the Sujireme Court for violence to 
one of our own jjcople. Orders were at once 
given and promjttly executed for his arrest, and 
the arrest of all others who were with him. 

Our police and militar)- systems were now 
ecpial, if not sujjerior, to any on the continent. 
\\'ithin an hour's time we could jjut in line 
5700 men, well armed, ecjuipped.and officered, 
ready for any service. .\nd let it be noted 
that all were volunteers, without pay, direct or 




•'■•■-•- -2,'.. V ' '-'Vh 



AS'*, i 




ii 















m'Mr. 





A MKHTI.Nlj or T)IK VIUILANCK LUMMITiKb UN >X>H i sMOl'TII St^UARK, l6j6. ('ii<.H A.s ui^ iiAuvknnoui 1 1-^) 



144 



SAJV FRANCISCO VIGILANCE COMMITTEES. 




ENGRAVED BY H. VELTEN. 



PHOTOGRAPHED BY TA8ER. 



WILLIAM T. C0LERL1N. 



indirect, for their services, the committee pro- 
viding only material — arms, munitions, trans- 
portation, and commissary. In these ranks 
were bankers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, me- 
chanics, miners, ministers, sailors, soldiers, sala- 
ried men, day laborers, and nearly all the men 
of property. All cheerfully sacrificed every in- 
terest for the cause. 

Judge Terry was regarded and treated as a 
high State prisoner. His trial was delayed by the 
uncertainty of the recovery of Hopkins, and 
by the efforts of Terry's friends to make a com- 
promise. All these efforts failed, and on June 
25 the trial began. It lasted nearly a month 
— a long, wearisome, unsatisfactory piece of 
work. Terry was convicted of resistance to 
and assault upon the officers of the committee, 
but as the wound inflicted did not prove fatal, 
and the officer recovered, the usual punishment 
in the committee's power to inflict not being 
applicable, it was finally decided to discharge 
him. And it was resolved that the interests of 
the State imperatively demanded that he resign 
his position as judge of the Supreme Court. 

While Terry's trial was going on, the com- 
mittee had handed over to the authorities a 
number of men aiTested for crimes and misde- 
meanors, and only two prisoners were held — 
Philander Brace for the murder of Captain 



West, and Joseph Hetherington for killing Dr. 
Randall. Both were cold-blooded crimes com- 
mitted in open daylight, within the city, and 
demanded the full penalty. The men were tried 
fairly, sentenced to death, and executed. Thus 
ended the capital punishment of the Vigilance 
Committee of 1856. 

On August 8, 1 856, the Executive Committee 
decided to close their labors, and on the iSth a 
great parade of all the members was held, and 
the active work of the General Committee 
ended sine die, the Executive Committee, how- 
ever, continuing in session to close up finan- 
cial and other affairs. 

The personnel of the committee were men 
above the average. They were selected for 
their worth, integrity, and good standing in the 
community, and no man was admitted whose 
record was not clear in these particulars, and if 
he failed in them he was quietly retired. Poli- 
tics, creed, nationality, or profession were not 
considered, not thought of. The largest ele- 
ment of the committee was of northern and 
western men, chiefly representing the mercan- 
tile, manufacturing, and vested interests, but 
embracing every profession and pursuit. It is 
estimated that about eighty-five per cent, of 
the population of the city and State were of the 
committee, or with it as friends, adherents, and 



SAJV FR.l.VC/SCO VIGILAXCE COMM/TTEKS. 



M5 



supporters, llie little minority, however, were 
ever at tive, persistent, and plucky, and made 
their numbers count as often as possible. The 
church, as in all such commotions, advised 
moderation and good order, and maintained a 
(liirnified tonservatism, 

A comparison shows the coincidences of the 
work of the Vigilance Committee of 1851. 
and that of the great committee of 1856. In 
185 1 four men were hanged for high crimes, 
all clearly and unmistakably proved. 'I*wo of 
these were taken by suri)rise-parties from the 
city prison on Sunilay morning during chiin h 
hours, and immediately taken to the commit- 
tee's headcpiartersand hange<l, their trials and 
the proofs against them having been previously 
completed. The other two were heUl at head- 
quarters, and were more deliberately executed. 
'Ihis committee also banished about thirty bad 
characters, with notice never to return under 
penalty of death. 

The great committee of i.S^G also hanged 
four men, all clearly guilty, and all convicted 
of muriler in the first degree. Two of these, 
Casey and Cora, were taken from the same 
county jail which confined the two taken in 
1851. \Ve also banished about thirty. 

The chief difTerence between the work of 
the two committees arose from the fact that 
the expatriated of 18:; i were mainly ex-con- 
victs from Sydney, while in 1856 more Ameri- 
cans by birth and adoption were sent away, 
and these were more tainted by political cor- 
ruption than the others. Another marked dif- 
ference was that Governor McDougal in 185 1 
bowed to what he thought was the j)ublic will 
and its demands, and kept faith in his prom- 
ises not to interfere with the committee, ex- 
cept in form, if he could possibly avoid it ; 
while tiovernor Johnson in 1856, after making 
the same promises, was swerveil from his ])ur- 
pose and joined in opposing the committee, 
which greatly increased their labors and their 
influence, and jirolonged their existence. .An- 
other point of diflference was that in the later 
organization the reforms needed in the com- 
munity were far more radical and comjjlete 
than were those carried into efi'ect by the first 
committee. 

'I'he committee of iS^i completeil its work 
and adjourned within thirty days, and never 
again convened. The committee of 1856 re- 
•piired three months' service for the entire 
force, and the executive continued its sessions 
for a long while thereafter. The committee of 
1851 had about 800 members all told; that 
of 1856 had about 8000 enrolled, with an cujual 
number of active adherents, and earnest friends 
and supporters. 

1 F"or further n of the S.an Franci>co N'itjil- 

ancc Coinniittcc . 1. H. It.uicroiVs " (hrLiiiLlcs 

Vol- XLIII.— 19. 



The conclusion of the Vigilance ('ommittee 
of 1856 brought a comjilete revolution, jxiliti- 
cally, and financially. .\t the general elet tion 
occurring soon after, the old pfjlitical rC'gime 
with its retainers was retireil ; the old " ha( ks " 
were turned out and put to grass, and but few 
of them ever .saw the " crib " again. 

.\ new era followed; the "people's" party 
swept everything before them and gave the 
city the delightful novelty of an honest, non- 
partizan,an(i economical administration, wlii< h 
continued for about nine years. It lowered 
taxation, yet introduced economies which in 
time so radically reduced municipal indebted- 
ness, that the total of the city's obligations 
outstanding has since then rarely exceeded 
the amount of a single year's tax levy. Neither 
State nor city debts have since increased and 
are in fact j)ractically nominal. The city's total 
net debt on June 30, 1891, was $618,000, while 
the tax valuation for the year is $41 1,000,000, 
and the tax to be collected about $3,900,000. 
No other city in the United States can make 
such a showing as this. 

While a ])crfectly honest and pure admin- 
istration was not attained, yet so suj)erior was 
it to the old, so relatively pure, as to make it 
seem well-nigh perfect. T4ie reforms of 1856 
took deep root, and in their vigor have remaineil 
unimpaired to the j)resent day. 

The judiciary from that period have done 
their duty. The peo|)le of the country have 
enjoyed general security of life and property. 
The political parties are closely balancecl, and 
in San Francisco and the cities generally, since 
the committee of 1856, partizanship has been 
largely disregarded. 

The credit of the city, State, and people, 
which before was all uncertain, soon after took 
a foremost rank, which has since been firmly 
held and maintaineil. 



THE SAFETY COMMITTEE OF 1877. 

For twenty-one years the good inf1uen< e of 
the great Vigilance Committee endured. Then 
came a movement in July, 1877, the impor- 
tance of which has never been appreciate 1. 
either in California or elsewhere.* It was the 
direct outgrowth of the railway stri! • d 
socialistic agitation in New York, i 
Pittsburgh, and other large eastern cities. At 
first it was thought no o' ' ' ' ' oc- 

cur in San Franci.sco, even i.. ,.»,.. :... ' ...iiese 
question was troublesome, but on July 23 
.Mayor Hryant and Chief of Police Kllis, hav- 
ing unmistakable evidences of very .serious 
trouble, called on General McComb, Com- 
mander of the State forces, and requested him 

of the Ituilders of the Commonwealth," Vol. I, |»p. 
33^379- 



146 



SAA' FRANCISCO VIGILANCE COMMITTEES. 



to hold his entire force in readiness to support 
the peace officers. General McComb, fearing 
that the militia would not be able to cope with 
a large riotous element, called a pubHc meeting 
of leading citizens, and asked their organized 
aid in protecting the city. I was called to the 
chair, and on motion of Mr. D. O. Mills and 
by unanimous vote was given charge of the 
entire movement, with absolute control. I at 
once appointed Committees on Finance, Arms, 
and Enrolment, and in a few hours the organi- 
zation showed a strong force. The work in 
many respects was a repetition of that of the 
earlier Vigilance Committees, unhampered by 
any opposition from within or without. It 
was found that the larger part of the guns and 
ammunition in the city had been bought up 
during the previous Aveek by unknown persons. 
Governor Irwin came promptly to the city, 
approved my plans, and supported my move- 
ments. Urgent despatches were sent to Presi- 
dent Hayes and to the Secretary of War, 
asking for arms and ammunition from the 
Benicia Arsenal, and for the presence in San 
Francisco harbor of the United States vessels at 
Mare Island Navy Yard. Both requests were 
promptly complied with, and within twenty- 
four hours we Jhad 1-760 rifles and 500 carbines 
with ample ammunition, and the next day three 
war vessels were ready to furnish aid. 

The object and intent of our assembly being 
to reinforce the civil authorities, and in no way 
to assume any other power than that of a citi- 
zen posse under their formal control, it was my 
duty to provide men at once, and fit them for 
the service. Rolls of membership were pre- 
pared and opened for signature, a pass-word 
was given, badges marked " Committee of 
Safety " were ordered to be distributed to the 
men, and, under a general authority given by 
the mayor and the chief of police, our members 
sent on duty were sworn in as special police. 
It was my specific aim, and I made it my duty, 
to confine the powers of each member to aid- 
ing the police ; and in the whole action of the 
force and patrol I allowed no step to be taken 
except by direction and request of the peace 
officers, conveyed through me. 

The membership increased rapidly. On the 
morning of the 24th we established our general 
headquarters at the large Horticultural Hall, 
Stockton street, arranged complete telegraphic 
communications, ordered all forces to rendez- 
vous there, and began the work of military and 
semi-military organization and discipline. Al- 
though it had been my object first to provide 
arms to cover every necessity, I at the same 
time determined to dispense with their use as 
far as possible. I appreciated the difficulties 
often arising by having military forces in the 
presence of mobs, and believed they should be 



employed only as a last resort, when they are 
needed for actual zndcff'ectwescrVicQ. This wasin 
harmony, too, with the nature of our call and or- 
ganization, to act in support of the police and not 
of the military, I accordingly gave orders for the 
purchase of six thousand hickory^ pick-handles, 
to be shortened, and converted into large police 
clubs, and to arm every man as a special police- 
man with clubs and side-arms. I then ordered 
the entire force into company organizations of 
one hundred, to select their own officers, and re- 
port to me for confirmation. As soon as these 
were approved, all were ordered under drill, and 
instructions and general discipline, and kept 
busily at work within the hall when there was 
sufficient room, and in the streets adjoining, if 
room were needed. Before night we had a large 
and effective force rationed by the Commissary 
Committee, and we sent out details for active 
duty, under orders of the chief of police. 

An intense feeling existed throughout the city 
on the night of the 25th, and as the criminal 
and lawless elements were gathered in crowds 
and squads in every part of the city, causing 
much annoyance and fear, I consulted with the 
chief of police as to the propriety of arresting 
these people, and keeping them in confinement 
during the course of the trouble, but we found 
that the prisons and jails would accommodate 
only a few, and that there was danger to those 
already confined there for various offenses. I 
consulted with the commanders of the vessels 
of war lying off the city front, and they offered 
to care for and confine on board their vessels 
such as might be sent to them, to the number 
of 1500, and if more, to place them on Goat 
Island and patrol the island with their small 
boats. The idle and lawless element, hearing 
of this movement, and fearing to be gathered 
in by the police and naval forces, left the city 
in large numbers, and for days the authorities 
were in receipt of telegrams calling their atten- 
tion to the great number of strangers, evidently 
rough and lawless men, that were reaching 
the villages and suburbs near San Francisco. 
Meantime I learned that if these arrests were 
made, immediate legal action would be taken 
in behalf of the arrested parties; the habeas cor- 
pus and jury trials would be brought into play ; 
complications would arise that would give us 
greater trouble than to meet these forces face to 
face and treat them effectually on the spot, which 
would greatly simplify and shorten the work, 
and render it much more effective than to have 
this class thus pose as martyrs of deportation. 

Hearing that there were more arms in the city 
than had been reported to me, I caused a care- 
ful and reliable survey to be made of the gun- 
shops, so as to secure control of the arms and 
munitions against capture by the roughs, and I 
shipped load after load of material to the men- 



S.-LV FRAiYC/SCO I'lCILAXCI'. COM MITTEK. 



'»7 



of-warin the harbor, togctlu-r with the guns that 
were lying in various foundries and i handler- 
shoi)s along the city front. In theestahhshnient 
of Little & Keadings I found such a large quan- 
tity on storage that I deemed it best not to 
attempt to move this su|)ply, and therefore, 
with their consent and approval, I left a heavy 
guard in and arounti the building, with care- 
ful anti considerate officers in charge, with 
imperative instructions, as a last resort to blow 
up the building. 

Tuesday night passed in these general labors 
of organization and supply, and on Wednesday, 
the news from the East still continuing alarm- 
ing, it was decided to effect ward organizations, 
to (.liviile tiie forces now enrolling into detach- 
ments and scjuads, well officered, with orders 
to patrol the city, and to furnish such assistance 
as the chief of police might from time to time 
re(|uire. Following a general jjlan of ward or- 
ganization adopted at a meeting of the Ex- 
ecutive Committee, the city was divided into 
twelve ward districts, company organizations 
were effected, halls and rendezvous were se- 
lected and opened, clubs and arms were sup- 
plied under j)roper refjuisitions.and telegraphic 
communication was established and maintained 
with the ward headquarters and the chief's 
otlice; wagons, couriers, and rations were su]j- 
plied, antl on Wednesday night, as shown by 
our records and despatches, an average active 
force of 1500 members was on duty in outside 
patrol, or awaiting, as reserves, the call of the 
chief of police at the headquarters, while under 
this efit'ective organization a total available force 
of 5438 members could have been rallied in an 
hour by general alarm. 

On Thursday. Friday, and Saturday nights a 
feeling of fear was general in the city. Much 
of the information was received through the 
chief of i)olice, and as such reports of disorder 
were communicated to me or my adjutant, we 
either .sent telegraphic orders to ward com- 
manders to act, or despatched strong bodies 
of men from the main hall to the scene of 
action. 

The first danger feared was fire; and the 
second, the gathering of excited crowds which 
might be arrayed against the police at any mo- 
ment. It was clear that general excitement per- 
vaded all classo, and the most careful officials 
ami ])rominent citizens made frequent reports 
to me of alarming occurrences or suspicious 
matters during these three days. From the fact 
that the criminal classes were in motion, that 
secret meetings were held, that political agi- 
tation was attempted, anil that many alarms 
of fire were sountled, together with the con- 
tinual calls of the chief of police for detach- 
ments — from all these I am assured that the 
L'ood work of the committee checked the vio- 



lent classes and showed them the potcncv of 
a large force reaily to (juell any disorder. In 
our prohibitive capacity the patrolsof the (om- 
mittee prevented lawless gatherings, fire and 
tumult, especially in the more lonely portions 
of the town. 'KSm: cavalry forces cjf the com- 
mittee, numbering nearly three hundred men, 
patrolled on Thursday and Friday nights the 
manufacturing portion of the city and the out- 
skirts. The immense value of exposed ship- 
ping and property along the city front naturally 
suggested precautions against fire, especially as 
many threats had been made to bum the Paci- 
fic iNIail wharves; and Captain Stewart .Menzies 
generously offered to cruise along the city front 
with his steam yacht Elaine and two smaller 
craft. Crews of special police and committee- 
men on board these vessels rendered valuable 
service. 

On Friday night we supported the police in 
the largest and severest engagement of the 
cam|)aign. We were informed of the enemy's 
movements, including a proposed attack on 
our headquarters and barracks. The main 
attack was designed against the Pacific Mail 
Steamship Company's ])roperties, because of its 
connection with the Chinese immigration. It 
began by firing the large lumber-yards and sur- 
rounding combustible material. 'I'he attacking 
force was large. The firemen and fire brigade 
were soon in action with all the available 
police ; our forces numbering seven hundred 
men, arrived soon after, on a double-(|uick in 
good order. The engagement became general 
and was stubbornly contested for about two 
hours, at the end of which time the united 
forces had routed the rioters in every (juarter. 
Our men displayed coolness, dLscipline, and 
courage throughout. Our success was com- 
plete, and by midnight the city was (}uiet and 
safe. The next day showed the general de- 
moralization and discouragement of the lawless 
element ; they were subdued, and the backbone 
of their movement was broken. 

On Saturday, the 28th, we withdrew all our 
forces from active duty, and by mutual ar- 
rangement General McComb took charge of 
and policed the city with the National (luard. 
Only slight disturbances occurred during the 
day, anil the night passed <|uietly. Sunday 
proved peaceful and restful, a great boon to 
our citizens. The storm had passed and the 
calm was reassuring. The chief of police ad- 
vised me that he was satisfied he could then 
take care of the city. 

Within five days from the first call we had 

organized, armed, gone through s Mil 

action, completed our undertaking, e- d 

peace, order, and security ; and, as the signs of 
the dangers which had calleil us out were now 
|)assid. we resolved that the returning quiet 



148 



SAN FRANCISCO VIGILANCE COMMITTEES. 



should see us relinquish our extraordinary 
powers and public position. The committee 
determined to adjourn, but not to disband. 
The executive commander issued a general 
order. 

The retirement of this large force was ac- 
complished as speedily and as quietly as its 
organization. The headquarters only were re- 
tained, and all members advised to be ready 
to respond to call by messenger or tap of 
bell. As to our membership the result proved 
that the Executive Committee, their officers, 
and the great mass of men enrolled were 
moved by an unselfish devotion to public 
duty, and faithfully and intelligendy wrought 
out the problem we had to solve. Their ser- 
vices were entirely voluntary, a generous offer- 
ing, without a penny's pay or other moneyed 
compensation. They deemed it their high priv- 
ilege and their imperative duty as Americans 
to give promptly their physical, moral, and 
financial aid as tributes for the maintenance of 
peace and good order ; and all this being as- 
sured, they returned quietly to their famihes 
and their business. 

In the history of California since it became 
American territory, the Vigilance Committees 
of 185 1 and 1856 and the Safety Committee of 
1877 are very important moral movements. 

The Vigilance Committee was a new de- 
parture in the jurisprudence of the world. It 
may be called a compromise between the reg- 
ular course of law, and the action of the people 
without regard to officers of the law. It was 
seizing Upon the forces of a mob, arresting them 
in their mad course, harnessing them quietly, 
and utilizing their powers in regular form, sys- 
tematically, coolly, and deliberately. It was a 
demonstration that had never before been made, 
and it was left to Cahfornia to make it — while 
the law was lying dormant on the one hand, 
and trampled down and disgraced on the other, 
the people — the power of all government in 
our system — determined to execute in legal 
form what their servants had neglected or ig- 
nored. While they loved and revered the law, 
respected, upheld, and applauded its faithful 
servants, they contemned the faltering, and 
scorned the false and faithless administrators. 
In 1851 it cleared the country of Sydney ex-con- 
victs and all the worst elements of the criminal 
classes. In 1856 it saved San Francisco from 
the rule of a mob of political outcasts, ballot- 
box stuffers, and a recent immigration of other 
criminals. In 1877, in the same place, the same 
people under different conditions, and yet in 
some regards similar, finding danger from much 
the same elements, but on a more formidable 
scale, determined to act under the law. The 
State government was in better hands than in 
1 85 1 and 1856; the city government was in 



better hands ; the country generally was in bet- 
ter condition. The influence of the Vigilance 
Committee of 1856 had continued and pre- 
vailed all the time. The ethics of the State 
were of a higher order than at the earlier 
date. The early experiences were valuable to 
individuals as well as to the masses, and when 
called up for self-government the people again 
demonstrated a capacity that has few parallels. 

The men acting in 1877 believed and still 
beHeve, and acted with confidence on the prop- 
osition, that of all people in the world Ameri- 
cans are best fitted for self-government ; that 
of all portions of the United States, Cahfor- 
nia was the best fitted : first, because of the gen- 
eral character of the people that constituted 
the State from 1848 ; next, because of the 
value of the experiences of those people, com- 
ing from every State of the Union and from 
every foreign country, and developing here in- 
dependence of action and thought. Moved al- 
ways, as much as people can be in ordinary 
conditions of life, by a spirit of patriotism, un- 
selfishness, and general intelligence, they har- 
monized and formed a composition of character 
and citizenship remarkable for breadth and 
strength. Unhampered by old local influences 
and free to act on their own judgment, they 
had the courage to carry out whatever they 
conceived to be right. This action has been 
appreciated, not only in California, but in other 
parts of the world where it has gradually 
worked its way from doubt and dislike to 
cheerful acceptance. 

The agitation and disturbances of 1877, be- 
ginning outside of the State and afterward 
reaching San Francisco, begot the Safety Com- 
mittee, the younger sister of the Vigilance 
Committees, in whose name and under whose 
banner the people of California sprang at once 
to the support of the government in the main- 
tenance of peace and the punishment of crime 
with a promptness, decision, intelligence, and 
cool determination rarely equaled and never ex- 
celled. The citizens gladly accepted the oppor- 
tunities to avoid independent action, such as had 
been previously forced upon them, and enrolled 
themselves as State troops and as city forces in 
the regular way; that is, they would be vol- 
unteers for a short campaign, sub-militia, or 
special police, under the regular authorities. 

The people of the world know little of this 
movement, and even in California many have 
not held this matter in the esteem to which it 
is entitled. The late difficulties in New Orleans 
exemplified and illustrated, however, the esti- 
mation in which these works of the Vigilance 
Committees and the Safety Committee are really 
held by the country at large, because these or- 
ganizadons held the power of peace in their 
hands : the first without the continuous ap- 



SAN FRANCISCO J7G /LANCE CO.\r.\fnTEES. 149 

proval and in opposition to the State and city cases to adopt the modes of tlie New Orleans 

governments, the second entirely in harmony incident ; whereas the California fashion has 

with them. All showed to the world that the the great advantage of giving time for rellec- 

samc people have done much tiic same work ^ tion and examination. A man in the heat of 

stepped forward an<l restore<l and maintained passion floes many things that in cooler mo- 

onler, and then retired without claiming any- ments of the next day he would gladly change, 

thing and without wanting anythmg, exce|)t None of the California executions, except that 

peace and its good results. It was seen that of Jenkins, was made within four days after ar- 

these etTorts left no political shock, no moral raignment. Every one who had a right to say 

damage, and practically no legal ditTiculties ; anything was given an opjjortunity to do so ; 

that they did not demoralize the communities ; time was given for close insj)ection of testimony 

that so iar from rousing a spirit of mobocracy as to all j)Ieas of justification and all equiries. 

they have in California obliterated mobocracy The New Orleans cjtisode was a demonstra- 

and mobocratic feeling. I'hemobin San Fran- tion that could be made by any rude party, 

Cisco has not been known in thirty years, ex- but the work of the California Vigilance Com- 

cept the eft'ort in 1S77, which was stilled in the mittees could only have been done by men who 

beginning. The people of California are ready could govern themselves as well as others — 

and prepared to organize and form military men determined to do right and to admit of 

forces, if necessarv, to meet a mob and crush nothing but the right. 

it, and if the civil authorities are not sulhciently (iod forbid we should hereafter need vigi- 

active, they will furnish the power to supply lance or safety committees. The people of 

their j)lace. California do not want them. Those who or- 

Keferring to the recent lynching at New Or- ganized and conducted these efforts heretofore 
leans, there surely was ample cause for prompt as fully appreciate the undesirability of all such 
and severe action, but the mode adojjted was proceedings as any one else can, and they would 
frightfully at fiiult. Californians must forgive never apjjcal to them nor encourage an appeal 
it, tacitly pass it by, but it is with regret ancl not to them except as a last resort in dire necessity, 
with ai>j)roval. Under the same influences and If the delegated officers of law do their duty, 
circumstances, the people in California would neither will I)e nce<lcd, and mobs w ill be known 
have met as they did in New Orleans, under in history only. But so long as our system is, as 
the impulse that moved them; but they would now, cursed with the harassing delays of law, 
have organized in full force, and in military form new trials, endless technical appeals, shameless 
if necessary ; they would have taken quarters, and unrcproved perjury, and daily defeats of 
formed a court, appointed a judge, and se- justice, hope is liable to lapse into despair, and 
lected a jury of good men ; called for evidence serious danger to follow. The extent of these 
in the c:ise that had been before the recreant dangers no one can measure. The agencies 
tribunals, analyzed it carefully, put on trial the employed, the people brought into action, the 
people who had been discharged by the per- circumstances surrounding them, may produce 
jured jury, given the accused good counsel, results far less satisfactory than those that fell 
the benefit of all doubts that occurred ; and to the lot of the people of California, 
finally, with deliberation and in regular form, The safety of person and property in Cali- 
would have executetl those whom they found fomia, young as the State is, covering a large 
guilty. Thoseentitled to the least doul)t would area of territon*-, and sparsely populated, fur- 
have been discharged. Had it retjuired 5000 niches a record that is hardly to be found 
men in this organization, or 20,000, they would elsewhere. The greatest satisfaction, however, 
have been found ready for the work. For given to Californians was that they had thus 
execution, Californian forms would have been disproved the assertion often made that the 
carried out. The criminals would have been \'igilancc Committee was mobocratic and that 
allowed time to arrange their worldly affairs, Californians necessarily acted in an extra-judi- 
an«l the benefit of clergy. The executic^n woukl cial manner. The State authorities by their 
have been carried out with gravity, deliberation, course in 1877 really adoj)ted and approved 
and firmness, securing thereby a moral as well the work of 1856. They gladly embraced the 
as a legal triumph, which is all lost by the wild, opportunity to bring the sanv ' • and the 
stormy, heedless action of a mob. The rule of same influences to work un.. j laws ot 
the leaders of the California Vigilance Com- the State. This shows to other countries that 
mittees was that it was better for a thousand with proper regulation and proper er e- 
guilty men to escajjc than that one innocent ment the citizens of .New Orleans or o;.. . . :n- 
man should suffer. muniiies may be relied upon to maintain peace 

It is to be feared that even the qualified ap- and good order, if the State authorities have the 

proval of the New Orleans affair may encour- breatlth and gt^od judgment to in- - " te the 

age hastypeople in other quarters and in other peopl<- n-. ai tivc aids in irreat cri ad of 



ISO 



TOPICS OF THE TIME. 



doubting them and trying to do without them, or his desk, ready to stop and turn his hand to 
The grand result of such a poHcy is that every the service of the State, if only for a day, I re- 
good citizen may consider himself a part of gard this as one of the great strongholds of self- 
the practical workings of the machinery of government, a source of incalculable strength 
the State ; he may be at his bench, his plow, to Americans. 

WiUiain T Coleman. 

[In an early number of The Century will appear a series of letters by General W. T. .Sherman, written 
from San Francisco in 1856, and setting forth his relations to the committee of that year and his reasons for 
opposing its work. — Editor.] 




SEAL OF THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE. 



TOPICS OF THE TIME. 



Lowell's Legacy to his Country. 

It is Man who is sacred, it is his duties and opportunities; not 
his rights, that nowadays need reinforcement. It is honor, jus- 
tice, culture, that make liberty invaluable, else worse than worth- 
less, if it mean only freedom to be base and brutal. 

THESE golden words, taken from the letter of Lowell 
now first printed in another column of The Cen- 
tury, are as level to the needs and the duty of this very 
hour as they were to those of the moment when they 
left the poet's pen. This whole letter was written in pain 
and indignation — the pain of the true patriot, the indig- 
nation of the just and far-seeing citizen. It is written 
with the same fire that inspired the " Biglow Papers " 
on the one hand and the " Commemoration Ode " on 
the other. Looking back through all the praise that 
fills the air above the grave of the poet, it seems amazing 
that he could have been once so misunderstood and 
maligned for actions consistent with his entire career, — 
actions which only proved anew the wise and unfailing 
patriotism of the man, — a patriotism which is one of the 
principal causes of his fame, as it is the chief reason for 
the love in which he is held by his countrymen. 

Lowell's legacy as a poet is great, but not greater 
than his legacy as a patriot. The true patriot does not 
love his country, labor and suffer for it, simply because 
he happened to be born in it, — that would be the in- 
fatuation of the egotist ; but because, being born in 
it, his duty and pleasure are to help on all human 
progress by helping on first the progress of the land 
to which he belongs. This is Lowell's legacy as a 
patriot, — not the sentiment " My country, right or 
wrong," but " My country — it shall never be wrong 
if I can help it ! " The true patriot is not the one who 
says it is my country, and its institutions, that are sa- 
cred ; but who says, with Lowell, "It is Man who is 
sacred." The citizen who holds to this sacredness 
of humanity will be the most useful in securing insti- 
tutions and a country whose services to humanity will 
make them also sacred in his own heart, and in the 
hearts of all good men. 



Michigan's " Wild-cat " Banks. 

The history of Michigan's " wild-cat " banking ex- 
perience, while not so applicable to present financial 
discussion as other cheap-money experiments which 
we have cited in previous numl^ers of The Century, 
is nevertheless instructive for two reasons : first, be- 
cause it was an attempt to make " hard times " easier 
by unlimited issues of irredeemable paper money, and 
second, because the money so issued was based largely 
on land as security. For these reasons it has seemed 
to us worth while to recall it at the present time. 

Michigan became a State in January, 1837. Almost 
the first act of her State legislature was the passage of 
a general banking law under which any ten or more 
freeholders of any county might organize themselves 
into a corporation for the transaction of banking busi- 
ness. Of the nominal capital of a bank only ten per 
cent, in specie was required to be paid when subscrip- 
tions to the stock were made, and twenty per cent, ad- 
ditional in specie when the bank began business. For 
the further security of the notes which were to be is- 
sued as currency, the stockholders were to give first 
mortgages upon real estate, to be estimated at its cash 
value by at least three county officers, the mortgages 
to be filed with the auditor-general of the State. A 
bank commissioner was appointed to superintend the 
organization of the banks, and to attest the legality of 
their proceedings to the auditor-general, who, upon 
receiving such attestation, w^as to deliver to the banks 
circulating notes amounting to two and a half times 
the capital certified to as having been paid in. 

This law was passed in obedience to a popular cry 
that the banking business had become an " odious 
monopoly " that ought to be broken up. Its design 
was to " introduce free competition into what was con- 
sidered a profitable branch of business heretofore mo- 
nopolized by a few favored corporations." Anybody 
was to be given fair opportunities for entering the busi- 
ness on equal terms with everybody else. The act 




Ri:sr.Mi-: oi- ikiimox I's 

'■ I'XI'I-.DII K )XS. 



FULL account of the 
five exploring expedi- 
tions of Jolin ('. Fre- 
mont woultl form 
almost a complete history 
of the great West (hiring that 
time — from June, 1842, to Feb- 
ruary, 1S54. The three earher ex- 
peditions were made at the expense and under 
the direction of the ( Government. 'I'he two 
later ones were pri\ate ventures — princi|)ally 
at the expense of Fremont's father-in-law, 
Thomas H. Benton, and himselfJ 

The first expedition left Choteau's Landing, 
near the site of Kansas City, on June 10, 1842. 
'i'he party consisted of twenty-eight mem- 
bers, with Fremont in command, Charles 
I'reuss, topograj)hical engineer, Lucien Max- 
well, hunter, and Kit Carson, guide. It was 
a<c()mpanied by Menry Brant, a son of Colo- 
nel J. H. lirant, of St. Louis, and Randolph 
Tjentcm, Fremont's brother-in-law, a boy of 
twelve. The remainder of the party, twenty-two 
in number, were i)rinripally Creole or Canadian 
'vu7i;(-//rs.- The party was well armed and 
mounted, with the excejition of the eight cart- 
drivers. For some distance the expedition fol- 
lowed very nearly the route taken by the first 
emigrant train, of whi(h (lencral Bidwell was 
a member, and, like them, met va.st herds of 
buffaloes and other game. 

This route followed the general line of the 
Kansas and Platte rivers, and for forty miles 
beyond the junction of the North and South 
forks of the Platte it kei)t close to the latter. 
At this point the party sei)arated, Fremont 
with five men continuing along the South Fork, 
while the others struck across country to the 
N<jrth Fork, and, resuming the emigrant route, 
j)assed by Scott's Bluff, Chimney Rock, and 
other landmarks. At Fort Laramie they were 
reunited early in July. I'.very obstruction 
was thrown in the way of their advance. The 
trap])ers, under the well-known mountaineer, 
Jim Hridger. warned them against the danger 
of proceeding ; and the Indians at Fort Lara- 



mie threatened them with destruction if they 
insisted upon advancing. But warnings and 
threats alike faile<l. In a cf)un( il held at Fort 
Laramie Fremont announced his intention of 
pressing on in pursuance of his original j)lans. 

On the 28th f)f July it was decided that the 
party should conceal its impfiiiinctifa and jjush 
forward in light marching order. 

The Rocky Mountains werecros.sed at South 
Pass on the 8lh of August. an<l the party then 
struck northward, now for the first time travel- 
ing over untrodden ground. After many ad- 
ventures and much hardship they reached the 
\\ind River Mountains ; the highest peak, 
named, after the first man to make the ascent, 
FVemont's Peak, was .scaled, and the American 
flag ])lanted upon its summit. This mountain, 
perhajjs the loftiest in the Rocky Mcjuntain sys- 
tem, is 13,570 feet in height. From this point the 
party returned by way of the Nebraska River, 
reaching .St. Louis on the 17th of October. 

The second expedition started in the spring 
of 1 843. Fremont received instructions to con- 




l 11 \Kl KS 11 
TOrOCRAPHER OF THK FIRST 

K.xreuiTioNS. (from a 



SO FREMONT 
,1.07 V»-«.) 



M-"(>r map of routes see " The First Kniigr.int Train J. H. nume^, U.isil I-iicuncssc, Frans'ois Tcssicr, 

ti> California," TilK Ck.NTI RV for NovcnilH:r, 1S90. licnjamin CadoUe, Josepli Climcnt, Daniel .Sintonds, 

-These were: Clt-mcnt I.aml)crt, J. H. L'Kspe- Leonard Benoii, Michel Morly, Haptistc nernicr, 

lance, J. B. I.cft-vre, Henjaniin I'otra, Mnise Chardon- Ili.nort- .\yot, Kr.in(,Mis I^tulipi^-, Francois B.ideau, 

nais, .Vuguste Janisse, Raphael Proue, Ix>uis Gouin, I.ouis NIenard, JuMph kuelle. 

759 



760 



RESUME OF FREMONT'S EXPEDITIONS. 



nect his explorations of 1842 with the surveys party were dehghted to meet Kit Carson, and 



of Commander Wilkes on the Pacific coast. 
There were thirty-nine men in the party. 
Mr. Preuss was again topographical engineer; 
Thomas Fitzpatrick was guide. Theodore Tal- 
bot and Frederick D wight joined the party 
for personal reasons. These with thirty-two 
white men, a free colored man, Jacob Dod- 



to secure his services as guide. Several parties 
had been sent out to secure supplies. Failing 
in this, they returned to Fort St. Vrain. At this 
point Alexis Godey was engaged as hunter. 
Fremont says, " In courage and professional 
skill he was a formidable rival to Carson." 
Going through the Medicine Butte Pass, follow- 




A HERD OF BUFFALOES AT THE PLATTE. 



son, and two Delaware Indians, completed the 
number. 

The preparations for departure being com- 
pleted, on the 29th of May the party set out, 
following the general direction taken by the 
first expedition but farther to the south, cross- 
ing the two forks of the Kansas and reaching 
Fort St. Vrain on the Fourth of July. Instead 
of turning directly north to Fort Laramie, as 
he had done in 1842, Fremont took a westerly 
course. On the 14th, at the point where the 
Boiling Spring River enters the Arkansas, the 



ing the Platte and the Sweetwater, they crossed 
the South Pass and struck directly westward 
to the Bear River, which, flowing in a south- 
erly direction, empties into Great Salt Lake. 
After some exploration of its northern end, 
on the 1 8th of September the party were 
again united at Fort Hall on the Shoshone, 
and preparations were made to push on to the 
Columbia. The cold and the scarcity of pro- 
visions decided Fremont to send back a 
number of the men who had so far accom- 
panied him. Eleven men, among them Basil 



RESlWrP. OF FRfi.MOXT'S l.XrF.n/TIONS. 



761 




JIM l.kil.uKk, SCOUT A.M> iKAiriK (FROM A PHOTOGRAIH 1 . v: iiK.) 



Lajcunessc, who was an extremely valuable 
man, returned, for one reason or another, to 
their liomes. The remnant of the party i)u.shed 
on, following the course of the Snake River to 
Walla Walla. On the 4th of November they 
passed the Dalles of the Columbia, and a few 
days later reached Fort Vancouver. A number 
of excursions in the vicinity brought into view 
the snow-covered peaks of Mount Rainier 
(Mount Tacoma), Mount St. Helen's, and 
Mount Hood. On the 25th of November the 
jiarty began its homeward trip, wliich was 
a( complished by a wide southerly sweep, and 
through much ])rivation, danger, and surtering. 
The path lay t"irst ilown through Oregon and 
( 'alifornia, over the snowy passes of the Sierra 
Nevada, by the waters of the Sacramento to 
Sutter's I''ort. The experiences of travel on the 
snow-covered mountains, through which their 
way had to be broken, were terrible. Worn out, 
sometimes cra/ed by exposure and suftering, 
one man after another would wander oft' and 
get lost, and the strength of the rest, which was 



weakness at best, would be taxed to hunt up 
the wanderers. At last the stragglers were all 
gathered in cxcejit Ha])tiste Derosier. who was 
given up for lost, but who turned up two years 
later in St Louis. 

This expedition through the great valley 
lying between the Rockies on the east anil the 
Sierra Nevada on the west openetl up a coun- 
try unknown except to Indians and trappers, 
anil disproved the idea, which had hitherto 
been accepted as fact, that a great water- 
way led directly westward through the Sierra 
to the Pacific coast. After an excursion to 
San Francisco the route southward was re- 
sumed, along the direction of the coast and 
about one hunilred miles east of it, to a point 
not far from Los .\ngelcs, then curving up 
and proceeding due northea.sterly and then 
northerly till (ireat Salt Lake was again 
reached at its southern extremity. This great 
reentrant curve of three thousand live hundred 
miles was traveled over in eight months, during 
the severities of a winter in the mountains and 



762 



RESUME OF FREMONT'S EXPEDITIONS. 




^'t J 







^iij4J|>,*,_iitl.^.,. ■'*-*^ "■*'•* 



^-^-^ >i-A^- 



^-«- -*v- 



_llllsiAMiN^ 



VIEW OF THE DRY BED OF THE SOUTH FORK OF THE PLATTE (1890). 



never once out of sight of snow. During these 
eight months no word had come back to the 
East from the party, and grave fears were en- 
tertained for their safety. 

The third and last Government expedition 
set out in the autumn of 1845. The object in 
view was to follow up the Arkansas River to 
its source in the Rocky Mountains, to com- 
plete the exploration of Great Salt Lake, and 
to extend the survey westward and southwest- 
ward to the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada, in 
order to ascertain the best route by which to 
reach the Pacific coast in this lower latitude. 
Matters were in a very unsettled condition ; the 
Mexican war was impending, and trouble was 
broodingoveroursouthwesternpossessions. Be- 
fore going on this expedition Fremont was bre- 
vetted lieutenant and captain at the same time. 

Bent's Fort was reached as expeditiously as 
possible, since the real object of the explora- 
tion lay beyond the Rockies, and the winter 
was fast approaching. The personnel of the 
party it is difficult to find. Edward Kern took 
the place of Mr. Preuss as topographer; he 




ALEXIS GODEY. 
(FROM A DAGUERREOTYFE LENT BY H. B. EDWARDS.) 



was also a valuable acquisition to the party 
because of his artistic abihty. Lieutenants 
Abert and Peck were under Fremont's com- 
mand. Jacob Dodson, the colored man who 
accompanied the second expedition, and a 
Chinook Indian who had gone back to Wash- 
ington with Fremont, and two gentlemen, 
James McDowell and Theodore Talbot, ac- 
companied the expedition. Fitzpatrick again 
served as guide and Hatcher as hunter. Later 
they were joined by Alexis Godey, Kit Carson, 
and Richard Owens, three men who, under 
Napoleon, says Fremont, would have been 
made marshals because of their cool courage, 
keenness, and resolution. When they set out 
from Bent's Fort the party numbered sixty 
members, many of them Fremont's old com- 
panions. After a short and easy journey they 
reached the southern end of Great Salt Lake, 
and spent two weeks exploring it and fixing 
certain points. Then they struck out in a 
westerly direction, across the dreary, barren 
desert west of Great Salt Lake to the foot of 
the Sierra, by way of the Humboldt River. 
When the party, after following two routes, met 
again at Walker's Lake, Fremont found his men 
too worn and exhausted and the stock of pro- 
visions too low to think of trying to cross the 
mountains together, so the party was again 
divided. Fremont with fifteen picked men un- 
dertook to cross the mountains, get relief at 
Sutter's, and meet the other and weaker party. 
These he ordered to go southward, skirting the 
eastern base of the Sierra till a warmer climate 
and more open passes were found, and to meet 
him at an appointed place. In ten days Fre- 
mont reached Sutter's Fort, laid in his supplies 
of cattle, horses, and provisions, and proceeded 
to the appointed place, but no signs of Talbot's 
party were to be seen. Owing to a mistake 
each party went to a different place. Both 
halted, and turned about, hoping to effect a 
junction, but to no purpose. Fremont suffered 
severely from the attacks of hostile Inchans. 
Finally each party found its way separately 
to the California settlements. Then followed 
a conflict concerning which there is much con- 
troversy. Fremont was compelled by the Mex- 



764 



RESUME OE EREMONT'S EXPEDITIONS. 



ican governor to retire to Oregon. After serious 
conflicts with the Klamath Indians he returned 
to take part in the Bear Flag insurrection, 
which was the occasion of the conquest of the 
territory. [See this magazine for September, 
1890, p. 792, and February, 1891, p. 518, for 
details, and also " Californiana " in the present 
number.] A difference as to precedence arose 
between Commodore Stockton of the naval 
and General Kearney of the land forces. Fre- 
mont chose to serve under Stockton, as it was 
from him in the first instance, before Kearney 
arrived, that he had received his orders. He 
was court-martialed for mutiny and disobedi- 



Rocky Mountain system. They had for guide 
a well-known mountaineer, Bill Williams, but 
he proved a blind leader of the blind. In- 
stead of finding a pass, he led the party over 
the top of the highest mountains, where there 
was no pasturage and where they were ex- 
posed to intense suffering and toil and terrible 
loss of life : every mule and horse, and one- 
third of the men, perished from starvation or 
freezing. A full account is given in this num- 
ber of The Centurv from the diary of one of 
the members of the party, the late William 
McGehee of Mississippi. In one instance the 
men in their extremity fed on the dead bodies 




LARAMIE PEAK, FROM ONE OF THE OLD MOUNTAIN TRAILS. 



ence to his superior officer, and was found 
guilty, but was pardoned in consideration of 
his distinguished services to his country. Feel- 
ing that the verdict was unjust, he threw up 
his commission, and so ended the last Govern- 
ment expedition. 

The fourth expedition was a private venture 
made at Fremont's own risk and that of Sena- 
tor Benton. The party followed for some dis- 
tance the route along the Kansas, turning 
southward at the junction of the two forks, 
and striking across to the Arkansas, and so 
on as far as Bent's Fort. On November 25, 
1848, the party, thirty-two in number, left 
the upper pueblo of the Arkansas with one 
hundred good mules and ample provision for 
crossing the St. John's Mountains, part of the 



of their companions. The rescued remnant of 
the party moved southward to Taos, and so 
by a more southerly route to California. The 
addition made to geographical knowledge by 
this disastrous expedition was not great. Fre- 
mont believed that if they had not been misled 
by their guide he would have discovered the 
best route to California. 

In March, 1852, an appropriation was made 
by the Government for further surveys of the 
great western routes. A highway and railroad 
were growing more and more necessary since 
the acquisition of California. Fremont, on the 
strength of this, determined to prove his belief 
about the central route which he had so disas- 
trously failed to find on his fourth expedition. 
In August, 1853, he set out on his last expedi- 



RP.SlWrf^: OF FR P. MO NT'S FXPKDfriONS. 



7^5 




KUSKINS. (Ah 



\ I'lCTlKE OWNED IIV CKNERAI. K. V. UKALK.) 



tion. The names of this i)arty are not given in 
full. The artist was S. N. Carvalho, the topog- 
rapher Mr. Eglostein, and Oliver Fuller of 
St. Louis accomi)anietl the party. From what 
is said in the account of the expedition, it 
seems there were also ten white men and 
ten Delaware Indians. After two weeks' de- 
tention in consetjuence of Fremont's illness, 
the party was again set in motion. It crossed 
the Rockies at Cochetopa Pass, not far above 
the scene of the terrible suffering in the pre- 
( eding exploration. For a time it seemed as 
though the experiences of the fourth expedi- 
tion were going to be repeated. Provisions be- 
came \cxy scarce, and at last failed entirely, and 
then the explorers began to kill and devour their 
horses. Colonel Fremont called his men to- 
gether and made them take a solemn oath never 
to resort to < nnnibalism, no matter what ex- 
tremities they might reach. Times grew wtirse ; 
they were reduced to living upon the hides, 
entrails, and burned bones of their horses. 
P.y these and by a < ertain variety of cactus 
which they occasionally were able to get from 
untler the snow, life was sustained. In this 
way the |)arty of twenty-two lived for fifty ilays, 
tramping through the snow with Fremont at 
their head treading out a pathway for his men. 
At last the entire party became barefoot. 
(>n February i Mr. Fuller gave out. The 
snow was very deep ; his feet were severely 
tro/en, and he found it impossible to advance. 
He was put u])on one of the remaining horses 
;in<l the men ilividetl their miserable pittances 
Vol.. \\.\. — loi. 



of rations to increase his. Almost in sight of 
succor he died, — in Fremont's words, — ''like 
a man, on horseback in his saddle, and we bur- 
ied him like a soUlier on the spot where he fell." 
I'>emr)nt, in the words of 1 Jenton. " went straight 
to the spot where the guide had gone astray, 
followed the course described by the mountain 
men. and found safe and easy passes all the 
way to California through a good country and 




roMIlK. J. D. MONTr.OMFRV, I.ATFR RFAR-APMIRAI. 

(rl.cal A 1-llllTOl.KAIII IIV AMIIOVVl ( SRK lAl.K tSo. 1 



766 



THE ORIGIN OF THE FREMONT EXPLORATIONS. 



upon the straight line of 38° and 39°." It prob- he in large measure through the country ex- 

ably did not seem such a " safe and easy " thing plored by Fremont, sometimes in the very lines 

to the starving and half- frozen men during those he followed; and this is equally true of the 

fifty days of anguish. At last, after they had highways. 





INDEPENDENCE ROCK, SWEETWATER RIVER. 

been forty-eight hours without a morsel of Thewinter of this last exploration was excep- 
food, relief came to the party. tionally severe ; and since the point Fremont 

Something of the practical value of these wished to demonstrate was the practicability 
explorations may be inferred from the fact that of this route in winter, the season was peculiarly 
the great railroads connecting East and West favorable. 

M. N. O. 



THE ORIGIN OF THE FREMONT EXPLORATIONS. 




ONG before the words carried their 
meaning I was familiar with " Or- 
egon occupation " and the " India 
trade." They connected themselves 
with big English law-books in my 
father's library, whose Ho- 
r^ r-iy garth-like pictures were a 
delight to my childhood when there were 
no picture-books made for children. Many a 
pleased hour I puzzled over these in that sunny 
library where I was free to come on condition 
that I would be " as quiet as a mouse." One 
of these illustrations, together with my father's 
many and patient explanations tempered to 
a child's mind, gave me some ideas which 
have never faded, but, emerging from childish 
imaginings and confusings, became strangely 
interwoven into the very substance of my real 
life. This favorite picture was that scene of 
which Macaulay has made so vivid a word- 
painting, the " Impeachment of Warren Hast- 
ings." It became an endless theme between 
my father and myself, and through it from him 



came my earliest impressions of India and Ori- 
ental life, and of England's power — her love 
of justice as well as her love of gain; her dar- 
ing conquests, and her crushing mastery of a 
race that were to me then the people of the 
Arabian Nights, only more warlike, and more 
splendid. The peacock throne of gold and 
gems seemed as real to me as the living pea- 
cocks that at sunset spread their feathers and 
screamed on the lawn at my grandfather's 
house in Virginia. And on the long gallery of 
our own home in St. Louis, where in the 
pleasant way of the old French town much 
life went on in the open air, again England 
was a household theme. For the British Fur 
Company, its enmity to the American Fur 
Company, its harassing opposition to Ameri- 
cans settling in Oregon, were matters of per- 
sonal interest and necessary consideration to 
those meeting there. 

Chief of the unusual figures frequenting that 
tree-shaded gallery was the stately and vener- 
able G eneral \Villiam Clark, who was ending his 



TIIK ORIGIN OF Till: FRI^.MOXT EXPLORATIONS. 



767 




%n- 



THOMAS II. IlKNTON. 

(FROM A LITHOGRAPH HV I.KHMAN It DIVAI., AKTF.R A DRAWING BV C. FENDERICH, 

OWNKI) IIV I.KMKAl. E. V. liKAI-K.) 



honorable clays in St. Louis, where he held 
superintentlency over all the Indians of the 
West. He who luid first exploretl the Columbia 
to the Pacific, and carried through Jeflerson'.s 
once defeated ])lan, was, of right, chief of this 
informal council. There met the heads of the 
fur trade — the many Chouteaus, and Ramsay 
Crooks, who brought Washington Irving when 
he was collecting material for his " Astoria." 
.\l limes came jjicturestjue Mexican merchants 
in gold-embroidered velvet riding dress and 
great ringing silver spurs; waiting under the 
shade of our old trees were their horses glit- 
tering with silver-mounted sad<lles and trap- 
l)ings. Nobody walked. There waited also 
horses with military saddles belonging to offi- 
< ers up from JetTerM)n IJarracks, their riders, 
in well-worn uniforms and with thinned, sun- 
burned faces, freshly in from prairie chase and 
sharj) skirmish with Black Hawk and his tur- 
bulent Indians — these too kept in enmity by 
the op|)osing British Fur Company. IJlack- 
robcd Italian and Belgian dignitaries of the 
Catholic C"hur«h, keeping to their traditions 
as pioneer travelers, would bring some humble, 
tlevoted missionarv priest who had his tale to 
tell and his valuable addition to make to the 
little known geography t)f plain and mountain. 



Wiry French voya^eurs in their fringed buck- 
skins, keen-witte(l and light of heart ; and 
wealthy citizens, Spanish, French, and Ameri- 
can, interested in the trade which, crossing 
Mexico, stretched to the "Seaof Cortez," as the 
(iulf of California was still called, met there in 
council, all animated by a common purj)ose 
to free our way westward. 

Year after year this small but forceful coun- 
cil met with my father in the vacations of 
Congress, and he carrieil up to their friends 
in Washington the knowledge gained among 
them as an impelling force towards our more 
energetic occupation of Oregon. In this inter- 
est he had visited Mr. Jefferson in his mountain 
home in Virginia, and gained deeper insight 
and further purpose from the mind to which 
we owe our expansion westward. 

When in 1840 there came to Washington 
M. Nicollet, a French savant and traveler, 
anil Mr. Fremont, who had been with him 
on the northwestern geographical suneys, it 
was of keenest interest to my father to know 
them, and to follow their travels on their maj)s 
in course of construction. This resulted in 
Mr. Fremont's becoming a part in his long- 
cheri.shetl work for the ot cupation of Oregon. 
Now, to his ow n accumulated knowledge and 



768 



THE ORIGIN OF THE FREMONT EXPLORATIONS. 



the increasing public interest and political 
reasons, could be joined the experience and 
love of adventurous travel, the youth and 
proved endurance, such as Jefferson so long 
before had secured for Oregon exploration in 
the traveler Ledyard. And to this was soon 
added personal and family identity in work 
and aim, for I by my marriage had become 
their connecting link. 

It would have needed only a request from 
my father to obtain for Mr. Fremont duty 
which should keep him in Washington in place 
of the long absences and dangers of these 
expeditions; but self-renunciation lies at the 
root of great work, and this was to be my part 
in being of use to my father ; so that it was but 
a few months after my marriage that the first 
of the planned series of expeditions (that of 
1842) was in the field. As that proved suc- 
cessful and of sudden and large interest to the 
country, the second (that of 1843-44) was 
started off without delay. 

The winter of 1842-43 had been used to 
make out the maps and write the report. In this 
I was secretary and amanuensis, and had full 
knowledge of the large scope and national 
importance of these journeys — a knowledge as 
yet strictly confined to the {t\N carrying out 
their aim. Even to the Secretary of War, and 
to Mr. Fremont's immediate commander, the 
colonel of the Topographical Engineers, they 
were only geographical surveys to determine 
lines of travel. This, the second, was to con- 
nect with the survey of the bay of San Fran- 
cisco made by Captain Wilkes, U. S. N. 

President Harrison, being both a Western 
man and a soldier, would have been friendly to 
their larger aim, but his death reversed this. 
Events justified the wisdom of silence until the 



fast-coming hour. War with Mexico was near- 
ing, and in that event the ownership of the bay 
of San Francisco would be open to the chances 
of war. 

In the month of March, 1843, 1 accompanied 
Mr. Fremont to St. Louis, where the second 
expedition was fitted out; that through, he 
left for the frontier, where the men and animals 
were gathered. Following out my duty of 
secretary, I was to open the mail and forward to 
the camp at Kaw Landing, now Kansas City, 
all that in my judgment required Mr. Fremont's 
attention. One day there came for him an ofti- 
cial letter from his colonel, the chief of the Topo- 
graphical Bureau : it was an order recalling him 
to Washington, whither he was directed to re- 
turn and explain why he had armed his party 
with a howitzer ; saying that it was a scientific, 
not a military expedition, and should not have 
been so armed. I saw at once that this would 
make delays which would involve the over- 
throw of great plans, and I felt there was a hid- 
den hand at work. Fortunately my father was 
absent from St. Louis, and I could act on my 
instinct. Without telling any one of the order I 
put it away and hurried off a messenger to Mr. 
Fremont — one of his men, Basil Lajeunesse, 
who was to join him with the last things. I feared 
a duplicate letter might have been sent on to the 
frontier ; but the river mail was very irregular 
and slow, and I charged Basil to make all haste, 
for much depended on that letter. I wrote Mr. 
Fremont that he must not ask ivh}\ but must 
start at once, ready or not ready. The animals 
could rest and fatten at Bent's Fort. " Only 
GO." There was a reason, but he could not 
know it ; my father would take care of every- 
thing. And as we acted together unquestion- 
ingly, he did go immediately. 




AMERICAN, MEXICAN, AND FKENCH PIONEER TYPES. 



TffF. O RIG IX or 77//': /'R/lUOX/' 7'.X7'I.OKA7/OXS. 



769 




JESSIE BENTON C'KS. FREMONT). (FROM THE MINIATURE ON IVORY BY UODGB.) 



We were in that older time when there was 
no telegraph to jiaralyze individuality. Klse 
the grand plan with its gathered strength and 
fullness, ripening and expanding from Jeffer- 
son's time to now, almost its culminating hcnir, 
would have fallen before petty otVuial routine. 
I suspected some obscure intrigue, such as had 
recalled the young traveler I.eilyard when he 
ha<l already crossed Russia into Siberia incarry- 
ing out the design of Mr. Jefferson, then nnnis- 
ter to France, for opening up the Columbia 
River — an intrigue that had thus balked and 
overthrown the foresight of Jeflerson, the 
friendly assistance of the I'.mpress Catherine, 
and the energetic ambition of Ledyard. It 
was now my happy privilege to be of use in 
counteracting a like evil interferenc e. With 
thedistance and the slow mails between the fron- 
tier and Washington I couhi count on gaining 
time enough for a good start for the party. 

Not until after I received the good-by let- 



ter did I write in answer to his colonel who 
had .sent the order of recall. Then I wrote 
him exactly what I hail tlone : that I had not 
sent forward the order because it was given 
on insufficient knowledge, and to obey it 
woukl break up the expedition; that the jour- 
neys to and from Washington, with indefinite 
delays there, would lose to the animals the 
best season for gra.ss and throw them, under- 
fed, into the mountains in winter; that the 
countr)- of the Hlackfeet and other fierce 
tribes had to be cros.sed. and that Indians 
knew nothing of the rights of science, but 
fought all whiles; that these tribes were in 
number and the i)arty not fifty men, there- 
fore the howitzer was necessary; that as I 
knew a military order must be obeyed, I had 
not let it be known to any one, but had hur- 
rie<l oft" the party. 

When my father relumed he entirely ap- 
proved of my wrong-«loing, and wrote to the 



770 



THE ORIGIN OF THE FREMONT EXPLORATIONS. 




GEOKGE BANCROFT. (I'RO.M A DAGUERREOTVPE.) 



Secretary of War that he would be responsible 
for my act, and that he would call for a court 
martial on the point charged against Mr. Fre- 
mont, liut there was never any further ques- 
tion of the wisdom of his arming the party 
sufficiently. In fact it had been but a pre- 
text, for which the colonel, a quiet man, had 
been used. I had so grown into my father's 
purpose that now, when my husband could be 
of such large aid to its accomplishment, I had 
no hesitation in risking for him all conse- 
quences. Upon this second expedition hinged 
great results. It made California known in a 
way which roused and enlisted our people 
and led directly to its being acquired during 
the third expedition (that of 1845-47), and 
this time there were no " foes in the rear." 

With the election of President Polk the 
way was made free to western expansion, and 
his having for Secretary of the Navy the his- 
torian Bancroft was of determining ad\an- 
tage. Then my father could say in that Senate 



where so long ago his voice had plead to dull 
ears for attention to our Pacific coast, " Now 
we own the country from sea to sea, — from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific, — and u|)on a breadth 
equal to the length of the Mississippi and em- 
bracing the whole temperate zone." From his 
own hearth had gone the one who carried his 
hopes to fullest execution and aided to make 
true his prophetic words, afterward cut into 
the pedestal of his statue in St. Louis, whose 
bronze hand points west — 

THERE IS THE EAST, 
THERE IS THE ROAD TO INDIA. 

And the venerable historian who had such 
deciding part in acquiring California has seen 
the fulfilment of his large views. His strong, 
quiet words, the utterance of his eighty-sixth 
year, are a resume of the whole and give to 
this episode of our national history the force 
of a benediction : 



ROUGH TIMI-.S IN ROUGH PLACES. 



•71 



Newport, K. I., 2ii July. 1886. 
My dear pRihNns : I have just received the first of 
your joint tribute to Bcntoii aiul the path to Oregon. 
I renumber the ilays wlun tile eyes of the world 
were turned tow.irds the hold adventurer who was to 
demonstrate that Oregon can be reached by a mid- 
winter journey as well as by a trip through the 
wilderness in summer ; and when Benton predicted 
in the Senate, in the lecture-room, in all companies, 
the ease with which the East anil the Pacific shore 
coidd meet together ; and the consequent changes 
in the atfurs ol the world. 

It had been my desire to acquire California by all 
honorable means much before that time [iS.jo]. 

I look upon the acquisition of California by our- 
selves as the decisive point in the perl'ect establish- 
ment of the Union on a foundation that cannot be 
moveil. Up to th.it time the division w.is between 
North and South. From that moment .Ul division, 



if there was one, was between the North, Center, and 
West against the South. Now that we have got 
rid of slavery, it seems to me that all distinction 
between North and South has v.mislud. But the 
acquisition of California, making our country the 
highway between Hiirope and Asia and establishing 
domestic free tr.idc through our almost boundless 
territory, promises to our institutions and our Union 
perpetuity. 

Best regards to Mrs. Fremont. Ever yours, 

George Bancroft. 

Rarely docs life offer suih opportunities; 
more seldom still do men, each specially fitted 
to his part, combine to carry out such noMe, 
enduring work — work which time has proved 
good. And the remembering people feel the 
truth," Though the pathfinders die, the paths 
remain open." 

Jessie Benton Fremont. 



ROrCII TIMES I\ ROUGH I'LACI-S. 



A PERSONAL 



.\ARRAri\K OF THK 'IKRRllil.K LXi'KRl KXCKS OF 
FREMONT'S FOURTH KXPKDrnON. 



[The earlier explorations of Fremont through 
the Rocky Mountains and into Calitornia — those 
of 1842, 184^, and 184s — were made under the 
direction and at the expense of the United States 
Government, and of tiiese we have full reports. 
Far less is known of the fourth expedition, which 
he made in 1 848-40, at private expense. 

The following article is made up of the records 
and diary of a member of the party, left at his death, 
and never bet'ore published. It is sent to Thh 
Century by his brother, Mr. C. G. McGehee, of 
Woodville, Mississippi. 

As far as Pueblo, on the Arkansas River, at the 
entrance to the Rocky Mountains, this party fol- 
lowed very nearly the same line taken by the ex- 
pedition of 1S44, which in the main follows the 
present route of railway travel on the Atchison, 
Topeka, and Santa Fe line. The experiences of the 
party in their slow progress over the plains — their 
encounters with Indians, buffaloes, elk, antelopes, 
and wild horses — are not unique, and will, there- 
fore, be omitted. We take up the diary where the 
old trail is left and the party plunges into the un- 
known mazes of the Rockies under the guidance of 
one of the trappers, named Bill Williams, — of a type 
which has long passed out of existence, — and who 
is thus descrilK'd : ] 



C' 



ILLUll.i.IA.M.S was the most 
successful trapper in the moun- 



7, P) |\ lins, and the best acquainted 
/ r^ W with the ways and habits of the 
■>" -^ — ,1/ wild tribes among and near 
-< whom he spent his adventurous 
life. He first came to the West as a .sort of mis- 
sionary to the Osages. lUit "Old Pill" laid 
aside his Christianity and look up iiis rille and 



came to the mountains. He was full of oddi- 
ties in appearance, manner, conversation, and 
actions. He generally went out alone into the 
mountains, and would remain there trapping 
by himself for several mcinths together, his 
lonely camps being often pitched in the vicinity 
of hostile savages. Put he was as well versed 
in stratagem as they, and though he bore the 
marks of balls and arrows, he was a terror to 
them in single fight. He had ingratiateil him- 
.self into the favor of several tribes; he had 
two or three squaws among the Utahs, and 
spoke their language and also that of several 
other tribes. 

He was a dead shot with a rifle, though 
he always shot with a "double wabble"; he 
never could hold his gun still, yet his ball went 
always to the spot on a single shot. Though 
a most indefatigable walker, he never could 
walk on a straight line, but went staggering 
along, first on one side and then the other. 
He was an expert horseman; scarce a horse 
or mule could unseat him. He rode leaning 
forward upon the pommel, with his rille before 
him, his stirrups ridiculously short, and his 
breei lies rulibed up to his knees, leaving his 
legs bare even in freezing colli weather. He 
wore a loose monkey-jacket or a buckskin hunt- 
ing-shirt, and for his head-covering a blan- 
ket-cap. the two top comers drawn up into 
two wolfish, satyr-like ears, giving him some- 
what the appearance of the representations 
we generally meet with »)f his Satanic Majesty, 
at the same time rendering his tout ensiinbk 



772 ROUGH TIMES IN ROUGH PLACES. 

exceedingly ludicrous. He was a perfect speci- eluded to go, for he thought we could manage 

men of his kind, an embodiment of the reck- to get through, though not without considerable 

less and extravagant propensity of the moun- suffering.^ 

taineers, and he pursued his lucrative but On the 26th of November [1848] we entered 

perilous vocation from an innate love of its the Rocky Mountains, which had been for days 

excitement and dangers. He had no other looming up before us, presenting to view one 

care for the gains of his labors than as a means continuous sheet of snow. The snow already 

of aftbrding him a " big spree," and enabling covered the mountains and was rapidly deep- 

him to procure more powder and lead. It is ening. I have frequently since called to mind 

told of him that he once came into Taos and the expression of one of the men as we rode 

spent on one spree six thousand dollars, the along before entering Hard Scrabble. As we 

result of a successful season of trapping, and looked upon the stormy mountain so porten- 

then left the place in debt. One of his amuse- tous of the future, he said, " Friends, I don't 

ments on this occasion was to buy whole bolts want my bones to bleach upon those moun- 

of calico, then quite a costly article in Taos, tains." Poor fellow, little did he dream of 

and, going into the street, to take hold of one what the future would be ! 

end and throw out the other as far as he could, In the evening, from our first camp, eight 

unrolling it on the ground, and then call out miles in the mountains, several of us climbed to 

the Mexican women to scramble for it. In a high point to take a last look at the plains, 

this way, and with drinking and gambling, three The sight was beautiful; the snow-covered 

or four weeks would suffice to run through his plain far beneath us stretching eastward as far 

money. Taking his traps and rifle, and some as the eye could reach, while on the opposite 

provision on his mules, he would disappear side frowned the almost perpendicular wall of 

among the mountains, and nothing would be high mountains. 

heard of him for months, until he would come We entered the mountains on foot, packing 
into the fort with a new supply of peltries, our saddle-mules with corn to sustain the ani- 
He would sometimes gamble until he lost mals. We traveled on, laboring through the 
all his money and animals; then borrowing as deep snow on the rugged mountain range, 
many as he wanted of the best horses belong- passing successively through what are called 
ing to his fellow-trappers, who never opposed White Mountain Valley and Wet Mountain 
him, he would leave the fort, one or two thou- Valley into Grand River Valley. The cold 
sand dollars in debt, and take to the mountains was intense, and storms frequently compelled 
again, certain to return after a few months us to lie in camp, from the impossibility of 
with another large supply. If he was much in forcing the mules against them. A number 
need of a horse, or tired of his squaw, he would of the men .-ere frozen ; the animals became 
sell her, or " swap " her oft" for one or two exhausted from the inclemency of the weather 
horses. For twenty-one years he had lived in and want of food, what little grass there was 
the mountains without returning to civilized being all buried in the snow. As we pro- 
life until he was taken back under guard, a ceeded matters grew worse and worse. The 
year or two previous, by Captain Cook, for the mules gave out one by one and dropped down 
offense of manoeuvering and acting the Indian in the trail, and their packs were placed upon 
in his buckskin suit on the plains, thereby de- the saddle-mules. The cold became more 
ceiving the captain into the belief that he was and more intense, so many degrees below zero 
an Indian, and giving his men a fruitless chase that the mercury sank entirely into the bulb, 
of several miles over the prairies before they The breath would freeze upon the men's faces 
could overtake him on his pony, much to his and their lips become so stifle from the ice that 
diversion and the officer's chagrin. it was almost impossible to speak ; the long 
Such was old Bill WiUiams — he who was beard and hair stood out white and stiff with 
destined to be our guide at this time. But it the frost. The aspect of the mules was as bad 
was not without some hesitation that he con- as that of the men ; their eyelashes and the 
sented to go, for most of the old trappers at long beard about their mouths were frozen 
the pueblo declared that it was impossible to stiff, and their breath settled upon their breasts 
cross the mountains at that time ; that the cold and sides until they were perfectly white with 
upon the mountains was unprecedented, and frost. The snow, too, would clog under their 
the snow deeper than they had ever known it hoofs until it formed a ball six inches long, 
so early in the year. However, Old Silicon- makingthemappear as though they were walk- 

1 Fremont, in a letter to his wife dated Taos, Janu- pass. We occupied more than half a month in making 

ary 27, 1849, says of Williams : " The error of our jour- the journey of a few days ; blundering a tortuous way 

ney was in engaging this man. He proved never to through deep snow which already began to choke up the 

have in the least known, or entirely to have forgotten, passes, for which we were obliged to waste time in 

the whole region of country through which we were to searching." 



ROL'GII TIMES IN ROUGH PLACES. 773 

ing on stilts. With the deep snow around us, ascent towards tlie Sierra Madre, presents her- 
and the pendant frost upon the leafless trees, self with all her features jirominent and strongly 
Nature and ourselves j)resented a very har- marked, her figures hold antl colossal. Our 
monious picture. 'Iwo trappers, Old Bill in- progress became slow and laborious. Our track 
formed us, had been frozen to death here the lay through deep mountain gorges, amid tow- 
year previous. ering precipices and beetling crags, and along 

.\fter coming through Robidcaux's Pass, steep de< livities where at any other season it 
which was exceeilingly difficult, we ilescended would have been next to impossible to travel, 
into (Irand River Valley. The snow lay deep, but where now the deep snow afforded a se- 
as elsewliere, and there was no sign of vegeta- cure foothold. In making the ascent of some 
tion. One broad, white, dreary-looking ])lain of these precipitous mountain sides, now and 
lay before us, bounded by lofty white moun- then a mule would lose its footing and go tum- 
tains. The Rio (irande lay fifty miles ahead, biing and rolling many feet down. My saddle 
so we determined to get through the snow- mule took one of these tumbles. Losing her 
covereil ])lain as tjuickly as possible. We foothold, she got her rope hitched upon a large 
traveled late and camped in the middle of log which lay loosely balanced on the rocks, 
it. without any shelter from the winds, and and, knocking me down and jerking the log 
with no fuel but some wild sage, a small shrub clear over my head, they went tumbling down 
which grew sparsely around. At night the together. But fortunately no one was hurt. \ 
thermometer stood at seventeen degrees below great obstacle to our progress were the rapid, 
zero. During the day I)ucatel,a young fellow rough-bottomed, but boggy streams which we 
in the company, had come very near freezing had frecjuently to encounter in the tleep and 
to death. By collecting a (luantity of the sage narrow ravines, where the mules would get 
we made sufficient fire to cook, or rather half- balked, half a dozen at a time, with their packs 
cook, our supper of deer meat, five deer hav- on. Then we had to wade in u]) to our mid- 
ing been killed that evening by two of the die among the floating ice in the freezing water 
men. Bolting down the half-cooked meat, we to helj) them out. 

quickly turnetl into our blankets in order to The farther we went the more obstacles we 
keep tolerably warm and to protect ourselves had to encounter; difficulties beset usso thickly 
against the driving snow, for since leaving the on every hand as we advanced that they 
States we had scarcely stretched our tents, threatened to thwart our expedition. The snow- 
In the night, as ill luck would have it, our became deeper daily, and to advance was but 
mules, poor creatures, w hich had stood shiver- adding dangers to difficulties. About one-third 
ing in the cold with bowed backs and droop- of the men were already more or less frost-bit- 
ing heads, suft'ering from their exposed situa- ten; every night .some of the mules would freeze 
tion and half starved, being now reduced to to death, and every day as many more would 
a pint of corn twice a day, and having no give out from exhaustion and be left on the 
other resource for food, broke loose from their trail. It seemed like fighting fate to attem|)t 
weak fastenings of .sage bushes and started oft" to proceed, but we were bent on our course, 
fti masse on the back trail. As soon as it was and continued to advance. At one time men 
ascertained that they were gone, in the middle were sent ahead to report the prospect, and 
of the night, we had to rise from our beds, returned stating that grass appeareil in the 
lifting half a foot of snow with our top blan- distance before them : they supposed that the 
kels, and strike out in pursuit of them. We snow was abating, but on coming up what 
overtook them several miles from camp, and, they saw proved to be the tops of bushes six 
taking them back, made them .secure. But we feet high projecting above the snow ; nor did 
rested little the remamder of the night. anything a|)pear upon which the animals could 

The next tlay we reached the Rio (Irande sub.sist. The corn we had packed along for 

del Xorte. This we found frozen over, and we them was already consumetl. Sometimes we' 

camped on the river bottom, which is thickly wouUl attempt to move on, anil the severity of 

timbered with cottonwood and willow. Here the weather would force us back into camp, 

my feet and those of several others were frozen In one of these attempts, before we could beat 

— the result in part of wearing boots, for which our way half a mile against the temjjest, our 

I (juickly substituted moccasins, with blanket guide. Old Bill William.s, was nearly frozen; 

wrajipcrs, which are much warmer than socks, he ilropi)ed down upon his mule in a stupor 

and which, with leggings of the same material, and was nearly senseless when we got into 

afford the best protection for the lower extremi- camp. A number of the men came in with 

ties agaiast severe cold. their noses, ears, faces, fingers, and feet partly 

Continuing up the river two or three days, fro/en, and one or two of the mules dropped 

we again entered the mountains, which soon as- ilown and froze to death under their packs, 

sumed a very rugged character. Nature, in the Poor mules, it was pitiable to see them ! They 
Vol.. .\I.I. — 102. 



774 ROUGH TIMES IN ROUGH FIACES. 

would roam about all night, generally, on dreary solitude ; not even the ravens uttered 

account of their extreme weakness, following their hoarse cry, nor the wolves their hollow 

back the path of the previous day, pawing in and dismal howl. Finally nearly the entire 

the snow three or four feet deep for some sign band of our one hundred mules had frozen to 

of vegetation to keep them alive. They would death. After remaining in this condition for 

fall down every fifty yards under their packs, five days without being able to move camp, 

and we would have to unpack them and hft the colonel [Fremont] determined to return 

them up, and that with fingers frozen and lac- as quickly as possible by a different course to 

erated by the cold. Finally they began eat- the Rio Grande. There we had left game upon 

ing the ropes and rawhide lariats with which which we could subsist until a party, to be pre- 

they were tied, until there were no more left viously despatched, should return with relief, 

in camp to tie them with; then they ate the Soon the 2 2d of December we commenced our 

blankets which we tied over them at night; move, crossing over the bleak mountain strewn 

then they came into camp and ate the pads with the frozen mules, and packing our baggage 

and rigging oft' the pack-saddles, and ate one with us. We were more than a week moving 

another's manes and tails entirely bare, even our camp and equipage over the top of this 

into the flesh, and would come to us while sleep- mountain, a distance of two miles from our 

ing and begin to eat the blankets oft" us ; they first camp. The day we began to move (our 

wouldeven tumble into our fires, over the cook- provisions having been all consumed, except 

ing utensils. But, poor things, little rehef could a small portion of macaroni and sugar, re- 

we afford them, for, although they suffered served against hard times) we commenced to 

much, we were in no better condition. Our eat the carcasses of the frozen mules. It was 

provisions were nearly exhausted, and we were hoped we might save the fev/ that yet lived, but 

more or less frozen. this proving impossible, we began to kill and 

Finally, on the 17th of December, after fre- eat the surviving ones. On Christmas Day the 
quent ineffectual attempts, we found that we colonel despatched a party of four men. King, 
could force our way no farther. By our ut- Croitzfeldt, Brackenridge, and Bill Williams, to 
most endeavors with mauls and spades we proceed down the Rio del Norte with all pos- 
could make but half a mile or a mile per day. sible speed to Albuquerque, where they were 
The cold became more severe, and storms to procure provisions and mules to relieve us. 
constant, so that nothing was visible at times He allowed them sixteen days to go and re- 
through the thick driving snow. For days in turn. We made our Christmas and New 
succession we would labor to beat a trail a few Year's dinner on mule meat, — not the fattest, 
hundred yards in length, but the next day the as may be judged, — and continued to feed 
storm would leave no trace of the previous upon it while it was within reach, 
day's work. WewereontheSt. John Mountain, Our way to the river was very rough, pass- 
a section of the Sierra Madre and the main ing over rugged and precipitous mountain 
range of the Rocky Mountains proper. At an spurs difticult of passage, and across deep ra- 
elevation of 1 1 ,000 feet the cold was so intense vines, with rapid streams frozen over, in which 
and the atmosphere so rare that respiration the water was pitching and roaring beneath 
became difficult ; the least exertion became us as we crossed. We would move camp three 
laborious and fatiguing, and would sometimes or four miles at a time, then, packing all the 
cause the blood to start from lips and nose, baggage down, we would move again in the 
The mercury in the thermometer stood 20° same way; on an average, at our best, we 
below zero, and the snow was here from four scarcely made a mile a day. On our way the 
to thirty feet deep. When we built our camp- last provisions were issued, — a little macaroni 
fires deep pits were formed by the melting of and sugar, — and we began eating the rawhide 
the snow, completely concealing the difterent tug ropes and parfleches, cutting them into 
rnesses from each other, Down in these holes strips and boiling to a sort of glue, or brown- 
we slept, spreading our blankets upon the snow, ing on the coals until soft enough to bite, 
every morning crawling out from under a deep Between the last camps, over a bleak and 
coveringof snow which had fallen upon us dur- barren stretch of seven miles before reaching 
ing the night. The strong pine smoke, — for the river, the cold was unusually severe, and 
here there was no timber but pine, — together perfectly unbearable storms prevailed. In 
with the reflection from the snow, so aftected crossing this stretch, one of the party, Proue, 
our sight that at times we could scarcely see. froze to death beside the trail ; we passed 
The snow drifted over us continually, driven and repassed his lifeless body, not daring to 
about by the violence of the chill blasts which stop long enough in the intense cold to per- 
swept over the mountains. form the useless rite of burial. One day I 

Besides ourselves and our mules, no vestige started to cross this stretch, determined to go 

of animal life appeared here in this lofty and on to the river that night or to freeze. Andrews 



ROCGIf T/MF.S IN ROUGH PLACES. 775 

started \vith me, but before we could get half true, to push on himself to the nearest settle- 
way across he became exhausted and lay down ment and send relief. He left an order, which 
ui)on the snow, declaring that he could go we scarcely knew how to interpret, to the effect 
no farther. I tried to urge him on, but he that we must finish packing the baggage to 
couM not go on, and I could not leave him ; the river, anil hasten on down as speedily as 
so, proceeding a short distance, I got him possible to the mouth of Rabbit River where 
into a cave, which aflbrdcd a shelter against we would meet relief, ami that if we wished 
the severity of the storm, and, climbing among to see him we must be in a hurry about it, as 
the rocks, ascended to the top of the mountain, he was going on to California, 
where the wind was blowing such a hurricane Two days after the colonel left we had all 
that I had to lie down flat at times, to keep assembled on the river. The last of our provi- 
from being swept ofl". Taking advantage of sions had been consumed, and we had been 
the intervals between the gusts of wind. I rolled living for several days upon parfleche. Our 
down some of the j)inon logs which lay upon condition was perilous in the extreme. Star- 
themountainsitle, pitching them overthe crags vation stared us in the face; to remain there 
below, and, descending to the cave, struck a longer was certain death. We held a consul- 
fire. }^y this time two others. Captain Cathcart tation and determined to start down the river 
and R. Kern, arrived to take shelter from the the next day and try to make our way to some 
storm. They had nothing to eat, and we had settlement where we could get relief; in the 
our last portion ; in the extremity of our situa- mean time keeping as much together as possi- 
tion we had, the day before, divided out the ble, and hunting ahjng as we went as our only 
last morsel wiiich remained, the share which chance of safety. The two Canadian French- 
had fallen to each man being a cupful of boiled men, Tabeau, or Sorel, as we called him, and 
macaroni and a cup of sugar. This we had Moran, did not delay as long as we, but, 
with us and we offered to share it with the pinched by hunger, had started off the day 
others, but Andrews, in trying to warm it, by before. So, with a handful of sugar to each 
an unlucky move upset it into the fire, and man, we divided some candles, pieces of raw- 
thus went the last mouthful that we had to eat hides, tug ropes and parfleches, and strapping 
on earth, antl we half starved. The stomi con- on a blanket ajMcce and shouldering our rifles, 
tinued to rage with such violence that we could we started upon our gloomy march down the 
not leave, and here we were kept for two whole frozen river. Over its congealed surface a som- 
days. In looking around I found a small roll ber shade was cast by the overhanging trees 
of rawhide snow-shoe strings which had been covered with long white frost which lumg like 
left by one of the men. These we cut into pieces a thick fringe from their barren boughs. Tot- 
and boiled. I also found some dr\- bones in tering from weakness, and some with frozen 
an old wolf den among the rocks. How many and bleeding feet, our progress was slow. We 
years they had been lying there I will not un- kept upon the ice down the middle of the 
dertake to say ; but these we pounded to pieces river, to get a level track, and to avoid as 
between the rocks and boiled with the strings, much as possible the deep snow, 
and upon this mess we four lived for two days. Now commenced a train of horrors which 
A number of others, on their way, had been it is painful to force the mind to dwell upon, 
forced like us to take shelter from the storm and which memon,- shrinks from, netbre we 
here and there among the rocks. had proceeded far .Vlanuel, a California Indian 
At last we reached the river, but we found of the Cosumne tribe, who had his feet badly 
no game ; the deer anfl elk had been driven frozen, stopped and begged Mr. Vincent Haler 
off l)y the deep snow. For days we had been to shoot him, and failing to meet death in this 
anxiously looking for the return of King's way turned back to the lodge at the camp we 
party with relief. The time allotted him had had left, there to await his fate. The same day 
already expired; day after day passed, but with Wise lav down on the ice and dictl ; and the 
no prospect of relief". We concluded that the Indian boys, Joaijuin and (iregorio, who came 
party had been attacked by Indians, or that along afterward, having stopped back to get 
they had lost their way and had perished, some wootl for Manuel, seeing his body, cov- 
The colonel, who had moved down to the ered it over with brush and snow. That night 
river before us, waited two days longer, and Carver, crazeil by hunger, raved terril)Iy all 
then, taking just enough ])rovision before it was night, so that some in the camp with him be- 
all exhausted to last them along the river, came alarmed for their safety. He told them, 
himself started off with Mr. I'reuss, Godey, if any would follow him back, he had a j»lnn 
Theodore (Godey's nephew), and Sanders, the by which they might live. The next day he 
colonel's servant-man, intending to find out wandered off and we never saw him again, 
what had become of the party and hasten them The next night .Sorel, his system wrought 
back, or, if our fears concerning them proved upon by hunger, cold, ami exhaustion, took 



776 ROUGH TIMES IN ROUGH PLACES. 

a violent fit which lasted for some time, and to leave any while they lived. So we com- 
to which succeeded an entire prostration of menced hunting, all that had strength and sight 
all his faculties. At the same time he was sufficient to do so, for the most of us were so 
almost totally snow-blind. Speaking to E. completely snow-blind that we could not see 
Kern of our situation, he said, " O Kern ! this to shoot. After long and frequent hunts, two 
is a misse Dieii [a visitation from God], and prairie chickens or grouse were killed. These 
we can't avoid it." Poor fellow, the next day we divided with scrupulous exactness among 
he traveled as long as his strength would the nine of us, dividing the entrails and all that 
allow, and then, telling us we would have to appertained to them, even to the pin-feathers, 
leave him, that he could go no farther, blind Taplinfoundpartof a dead wolf upon the river 
with snow he lay down on the river-bank to die. and brought it in. One side of it and the en- 
Moran soon joined him, and they never came up trails had been eaten away, but we divided the 
again. Late at night, arriving one by one, we all skin and roasted it, hair and all, for one meal ; 
came into a camp together on the river-bank, for another we drank the meager broth, and 
Gloom and despondency were depicted on then we ate the meat, and even devoured the 
every face. Our condition had become perfectly bones. This was the last we got. Day after 
desperate. We knew not what to do; the candles clay we staid here, but no game came near, 
and parfleche had kept us alive thus far, but Occasionally we could hear the distant, dismal 
these were gone. Our appearance was most howl of a wolf, as if weary of waiting for its 
desolate as we sat in silence around the fires, prey, but none came near ; at distant intervals 
in view of a fast approaching death by starva- a raven would go screaming by, beyond our 
tion, while hunger gnawed upon our vitals, reach. We found a handful or two of rosebuds 
Then Vincent Haler, to whom the colonel had along the river which we divided and ate, and 
left the charge of the camp, and whom for that Dr. Kern found a few small bugs upon the 
reason we had allowed to have the chief direc- water where the ice was broken, and ate them, 
tion, spoke up and told us that he then and We had already devoured our moccasin soles, 
there threw up all authority ; that he could do and a small sack made of smoked lodge skin, 
nothing, and knew not what to advise ; that We dug in the ground beneath the snow with 
he looked upon our condition as hopeless, but our knives for roots, but it proved a useless 
he would suggest, as the best advice he could labor. We became weaker daily, and to walk 
give, that we break up into small parties, and, thirty steps once a day to get some dry cotton- 
hunting along, make the best of our way down wood sticks to keep up our fire fatigued us 
separately, each party making use of all the greatly. Our strength was rapidly failing. An- 
advantages that might fall in its way, so that drews, after lingering several days, died in the 
if any should chance to get through to a settle- night as he lay by our side, and the next day 
ment they could forward relief to the others. Rohrer was nearly gone ; he was talking wildly, 
Accordingly the next morning he joined a fearful expression of despair resting upon his 
himself with Scott, Martin, Hibbard, Bacon, countenance. The mention of his family at 
Ducatel, Rohrer, and the two Indians, Joa- home had served to rouse him and keep him 
quin and Gregorio. Ferguson and Beedle went going longer than his strength would otherwise 
in company, and the rest of us, the three Kerns, have borne him up ; but now it was too late. 
Captain Cathcart, Captain Taplin, Stepper- Taking from Andrews's pocket a small gilt- 
feldt, Andrews, and myself, went together ; we embossed Bible, carefully preserved, which we 
agreed not to leave one another while life intended, in case any of us lived to get through, 
lasted. Again we resumed our unsteady course to hand over as a memento to his friends, we 
down the river. We traveled hard all day, laid his body to one side, covered it with a 
and late in the evening, weak and worn out, blanket, and sat down, waiting until Rohrer 
staggered into a camp near the river-side, some should die, intending, as soon as the breath 
coming in far behind the rest. Dr. Kern came left his body, to commence another move down 

up so exhausted that he fell down almost sense- the river. As we sat waiting, came over 

less and remained in this torpid state a whole to the fire where Taplin, Stepperfeldt, and I 

day. After a while Andrews came up, and ar- were sitting, and in a sad tone said : " Men, 

riving within several hundred yards of camp I have come to make a proposition. I don't 

raised a faint call and fell down completely know how you will take it. It is a horrid one. 

exhausted and senseless ; two or three of us had W^e are starving; in two or three days more^ 

to go and pack him in. He never recovered unless something be done, we shall all be dead, 

from this exhaustion. Soon Rohrer came up. As soon as we leave this body it will become 

Vincent Haler's party, to which he belonged, the prey of wild beasts. Now I propose in- 

was ahead of us, and being too weak to pro- stead that we make use of it to save hfe. It is 

ceed farther he stopped with us. Here we re- horrible, I know, but I will undertake to do 

mained, determined, as we had promised, not the butchery, as you may call it, and you need 



ROUGir 77.\r/:s i.v Roraif rr.ACES. 777 

have nothing to do with that part ; you need and going on had overtaken King's party, who 
not even see it done. Do you agree to my prop- had left the river and haci undertaken to strike 
osition ? " All sat in silence; then several of across the country to Albutpieniue, hut beioin- 
us objected. I spoke up and said that, for my ing involved in the deep snow, their provisions 
part, I had no conscientious scruples against being exhausted, they hail eaten their knife 
such a proceilure. I knew that early prejudice scabbards and had tried to eat their boots, 
and conventional opinion founded on prejuilice Being compelled to lie out night after night 
were at the bottom of our objections to it ; but without fire upon the barren plain, they were 
these existed, and it was a horrible |)roposition more or less frozen from their hips down, 
to entertain. I fully appreciated our situation. They had then returned to the river, where 
but I thought that, by making up our minds to King died, and here the colonel's party found 
it and remaining cpiiet, we could hold out three them in a weak and emaciated condition, nearly 
days longer, by which time, after finiling that dead, and with intellects shaken and scarcely 
we couKl not possibly bear up longer, it would a sense left. They were put upon the Indian 
be soon enough to think of ailopting so horrible horses anil taken into the litUe outer settle- 
an alternative, and then, if I did not aj)prove, ment of the Rio Colorado. Here, <|uickly (jb- 
I would not censure it. '• Hut by that time," taining what provisions he could, and hiring 
he .said, " we will be too weak and too far gone several Mexicans with mules, Godey set out as 
ever to recover. You sec what they have come speedily as possible up the river. On his way 
to, and you see what you will come to." " I he fell in with two other Mexicans, who, with 
can't help it," I said : " I am determined to risk mules loaded with bread and flour and corn- 
it at the jjeril of my life"; and so saying, I meal, were going out to trade with the I'tah In- 
walkeil over to the other fire. They talked dians. These, with their burdens, he pressed 
about it a few minutes, but were unwilling to into service, and hastening on, traveling late 
follow such a course unless all united in it, and and early, he met Vincent Haler's party about 
so we all waited together. twenty miles below us. Two of their number 

We remained around the fire, stirring as lit- were missing. They had agreed among them- 

tle as possible, and firing signal guns at fre- selves that when one became so exhausted that 

quent intervals during the day. Rohrer died, he could not travel the rest should not wait 

Two days passed by, and no relief came. Sev- for him. First Hibbard had been left, and soon 

eral times we imagined we heard an answer to after Scott. Leaving most of the animals and 

our signal and would raise ourselves up to lis- provisions at Vincent Haler's camp, Goiley 

ten; but being as often disappointed, we ceased proceeded rajMdly up. He found Scott sitting 

to notice. The morning of the third day ar- in a listless manner by afire he had just kindled, 

rived and was far advanced towards midday ; his head resting upon his hand, and almost 

we all sat in the deepest gloom. Suddenly totally snow-blind. Having strengthened him 

"Hush I" said one. We all listened intently, withfood, Godey furnished him a horse and sent 

A call was heard. " Relief, by heaven ! " e.\- a Mexican with him to the camp below, antl, 

claimed one of the men, and we all started to proceeding, came to Hibbard, who had just 

our feet ; and relief it was, sure enough, for died, his body being yet warm. Failing in his 

soon we spied Ciodey riding towards us followed attempts to restore him, Godey kept on. Tak- 

by a Mexican. We were all so snow-blind that ing across a short bend in the river, he passed 

we took him to be the colonel until he came entirely by us without knowing it, and found 

up, and even then some saluted him as the Ferguson a little distance above us. Beeille 

colonel. Dismounting, he quickly distributed was dead, and his body was lying near by. 

several loaves among us, with commendable Ferguson informed Godey that we were below 

forethought giving us but a small piece at first, him, and coming down with him, he found us. 

and making us wait until the Mexican could Leaving us, and taking with him several Mexi- 

prepare some toU (boiled corn-meal), which cans with pack-mules, he followed up along 

he ([uickly made, and we more (juickly de- our track, which was marked by the bodies of 

voured. it required considerable persuasion the dead as they had perished day by day, 

to prevent us from killing the Mexican's old and now were lying the prey of wolves and 

horse in order to eat it ; but Godey informed ravens, the deep and gloomy silence of their 

us that there were two colts in the camp below, solitude broken only by the snarls antl yells 

which, if we would wait, we might have. This of j)acks of quarreling wolves. He found the 

was the 25th of January. bodies of Sorel and Moran together. Frientls 

After leaving the jjarty, Godey, with the in life, they had proved friends in death. .Sorel 

colonel and the others that were with them, was lying prostrate on the snow, and Moran, 

had traveled on as rapidly as possible down the apparently after having tried to strike a fire, had 

river. They came ujion two Indians with several dropped his head upon the log against which 

okl horses, and engaged them to pilot them in ; he was sitting, and had ex[)ired by Sorel's side. 
Vol.. .\LI.— 103. 



778 ROUGH TIMES IN ROUGH PLACES. 

Godey found the Indian, Manuel, in the lodge, Vincent Haler's party, having been first 
still aHve, and brought him down. Manuel relieved, soon recruited sufficiently to leave, 
afterward stated that Carver came up to the and all except Ducatel and the two Indian 
lodge with a piece of meat which he said was boys, who remained with the rest of us, pro- 
part of a deer he had killed, and that he under- ceeded to the Rio Colorado, distant three or 
took to go to the previous camp, seven miles four days' journey. When Godey arrived we 
back, for something, and had frozen to death, all left together. On our way we were overtaken 

We sent for animals to take us down, for we by a violent snow-storm. Having no compass 
were wholly unable to walk. They came the to guide us, and not being able to see the sun 
next day. Our blankets were tied on for sad- or even the mountains through the thickly fall- 
dies, and rope stirrups were rigged, and we ing snow which rendered everything invisible 
were lifted (for we could not lift even our skele- a few rods distant, and without any object to 
ton frames) upon these miserable animals, and show us our course across the barren, snow- 
after a two days' journey reached the camp, clad plain, we kept traveling all day in a circle, 
twenty miles below. We were now lank and once coming in sight of our starting-point, 
thin-visaged, our eyes sunken, and our hair and Once we were on the point of stopping in the 
beard long, tangled, and knotty, while our faces midst of the stormy plain to take our chances, 
were black with pine smoke which had not been and before we could get to our intended camp 
washed off for two months. Here we fell to we were almost frozen. 

eating enormously, and it required the exercise Late in the afternoon of February 9, cold, 
of all our self-restraint to prevent plenty now hungry, and weary, with no little joy we all 
from being hurtful to us, as want had been at once hailed the sight of the little Pueblo of 
before. The abundance of food where there the Colorado. We raised a yell as we came in 
had just been such a lack made us all sick sight which made the Pueblanos stand out and 
and kept us sick for some days, but that could gaze. In a few minutes, with their assistance, 
not stop us. Our appetites were unbounded we dismounted from our horses and sought 
and we were eating constantly, at all hours of the comfort which the place afforded. Here 
the day, and throughout the night. We had we met Mr. Preuss and Croitzfeldt — one of the 
such a craving for meat of some kind that we first relief party who had come very near perish- 
killed two well-grown colts and ate them. We ing, and had not sufficiently recovered to pro- 
were even more ravenous than the ravens ceed. Each had thought the other dead, and 
themselves, which, now that we did not need it was like the joy after a long parting with 
them, came crowding around, with hawks and which we then grasped their hands. The rest 
wolves. Some of all these we killed and de- of our companions, they told us, had gone on 
voured. to Taos, where the colonel had preceded them 

It was curious to hear difterent men tell of to make arrangements, for such as were able to 

the workings of the mind when they were proceed, to go on to California by the Gila route, 

starving. Some were constantly dreaming or or what is called the Lower California or Lower 

imagining that they saw before them a bounti- Spanish trail. 

ful feast, and would make selections of differ- In sight of Taos, and several miles to the 

ent dishes. Others engaged their minds with southeast, at the mouth of a deep gorge or 

other thoughts. For my part, I kept my mind canon by which the Taos River debouches 

amused by entering continually into all the from the mountains, is a walled town or pu- 

minutiae of farming, or of some other syste- eblo, one of a great many of the same kind in 

matic business which would keep up a train this country, inhabited by the Pueblos or civil- 

of thought, or by working a mental solution ized Indians, a remnant of the race of Monte- 

of mathematical problems, bringing in review zuma. They Hve in houses built of stone and 

the rudiments of some science, or by laying earth, or of adobe, most of which at this place 

out plans for the future, all having a connec- were three or four stories high, and some of 

tion with home and after life. So in this way which even attained the height of eleven sto- 

never allowing myself to think upon the hope- ries, each story receding a few feet back from 

lessness of our condition, yet always keeping the front of the one below it, and each one 

my eyes open to every chance, I kept hope reached by a ladder placed against the wall, 

ahve and never once suffered myself to de- communicating with the door on top, and capa- 

spond. And to this course I greatly attribute ble of being let down or drawn up at pleasure, 

my support, for there were stronger men who, A high mud wall incloses the buildings, which 

by worrying themselves, doubtless hastened front towards the center, and in the middle is a 

their death. Ten out of our party of thirty- lofty church of the same material as the other 

three that entered the mountains had perished, buildings, with walls six feet thick, 

and a few days more would have finished the These Indians are the descendants of the 

others. original Mexican people, or ancient race of 



ROUGH TIMES IX ROUGir PLACES, 



779 



Aztecs, and retain many of their customs, 
thou^^h nominally Roman Catholic in their 
religion. Marly after the Spanish conquest 
they embraced the forms of religion and the 
manners and customs of their conquerors. 
Hut three hundred years of oppressicm and in- 
justice have failed to extinguish in this race 
the recollection that they were once the undis- 
puted lords of the soil, and, cherishing a deep- 
rooted animosity towards their concjuerors, 
they only wait a favorable opportunity to re- 
assert their liberty. I'hey are superior to their 
neighbors in social position, in morals, circum- 
stances, civil regulations, and all that pertains 
to civilization. They are brave and upright in 
their intercourse with others, and their women 
are chaste and virtuous, presenting in this re- 
spect a favorable contrast with their sex among 
the Spanish population. They cultivate the soil 
for a subsistence, and rear large herds of cattle, 
sheep, and horses, and their women spin and 
weave with considerable skill. Some of their 
fabrics are of a very superior quality. 

They still expect the return of Montezuma 
to reinstate his peoj)le in their former domin- 
ion and power. In this strange faith, according 
to an alleged injunction from Montezuma, they 
have kept a constant tire burning from his death 
to the present time, a period of nearly three hun- 
dreil years. At the pueblo near Taos a fire has 
been kept up without intermission until within 
ten years past. 

On the Rio Pecos, sixty miles east of Santa 
Fe, are the ruins of the ancient town of Pecos, 
once a fortifietl town, and portions of the stone 
wall that inclosed it are still standing. Here 
burned, until within ten years, the eternal fires 
of Montezuma, sustained by an ancient order 
of i)riests ministering at a temple of unknown 
age, the ruins of which are still to be seen, and 
near by are the remains of the old Catholic 
church, exhibiting in a prominent manner the 
ingraftment of the Catholic upon the ancient 
religion of the country, and both, in the char- 
acteristic features and design of the architec- 
ture, displaying the distinctive marks and 
emblems of the two religions, which, though 
so entirely tlitferent in theory, were here, as 
throughout all Mexico, blended in harmonious 
practice until about a century since, when the 
town was sacked and plundered by a hostile 
band of Indians. Notwithstanding this, the 
faithful Indian managed to keep his fire burn- 
ing in the estiifa, and it was continued until 
a few years since, when the tribe, which rap- 
idly diminished in numbers, became almo.st 
extinct, and the few that remained abandoned 
the place and joined a tribe of the original 
race among the mountains to tlie .southward. 
There, it is said, they keep up their fire to 
this ilay. Time and the pecuHarities attend- 



ing their devotion and the practice of their 
faith are ra|)i(lly reducing this remnant of 
the Montezuma race. 

At Taos we first heard with certainty of 
the abundance of gold in California, the first 
acc(nint of which had reached the States 
immediately before our departure, but u:i>. 
scarcely believed. 

On the 13th of February, having laid in a 
supply of provisions from the (juartermaster's 
department, being facilitated by the generous 
kindness of the army officers, and having hired 
muleteers and a train of mules to take us down 
to Albuipierriue, we set out for Santa Fe, leav- 
ing behind Captain Cathcart, who was not 
able to prosecute the journey farther, the three 
Kerns, Stepperfeldt, and Hill Williams, the 
guiile,and taking Lindsay Carson and T, Hogg, 
son of the ex-governor of Mexico, From here, 
in the spring of the year. Hill Williams an<l 
Dr. Kern, with a company of Mexicans, went 
back into the mountains to recover some of 
the most valuable of the property left by us, 
and were attacked and killed, either by the 
Indians or by the Mexicans who went out 
with them, we never could ascertain which. 

We learned that gold was most abundant in 
the mines on the Sangre de Cristo. We were 
told by a resident in Taos Valley that he with 
one or two companions had on one occasion 
visited this place and washed out as high as 
nine dollars per day to the man for several 
days in succession, but were compelled to 
abandon it on account of the hostility of the 
Utah Indians, for whom they had constantly 
to keep on the lookout. I have heard of 
pieces being found of the value of seven dol- 
lars, and a Mexican is said to have taken out 
a lump for which he was offered $2200. which 
he refused, and afterward solil to a priest for 
$150. This tends to show the influence which 
the priests have over these people. There is 
good reason to believe that gold is much more 
extensively ditTused throughout the eastern 
range of the Rocky Mountains and the coun- 
try intervening between that and the Califor- 
nia mountains, or Sierra Nevada, than is at 
present generally known. Ciold has been found 
as far north as the Chugwater. a large atHuent 
of the Laramie J^'ork of the Platte, taking its 
rise in the desolate region of the Hlack Hills, 
and also ujjon Horse Creek, an afiluent of the 
Platte, heading in the same barren vicinity. 
Concerning this discovery, I have been told 
by a trapj)er who was acquainted with the 
circumstance that an old French trapjter. Du 
Shay, in hunting buftalo in this region a few 
years ago, on Horse Creek, discovered in the 
bed of the stream, while drinking, a singular 
looking rock, very heavy, and containing nu- 
merous yellow specks. It excited his curiosity 



780 



CALIFORNIA JVA. 



and he deposited it in his bullet pouch ; but 
subsequently finding it in his way in approach- 
ing a band of buffaloes, he thoughtlessly threw 
it away. The following year, when at Santa 
Fe, he was emptying his pouch, and among its 
contents several bright particles which had 
become detached from the rock attracted the 
attention of the Mexicans. These were care- 
fully gathered up, and after examination proved 
to be virgin gold. The old trapper on his re- 
.turn sought for the source of the treasure, but 
was unable to find it. 

John Hawken, an adventurous and daring 
trapper with whom I became intimately ac- 
quainted, told me that seven years before he 
was trapping with a companion upon Salt 
River, about one hundred and twenty miles 
above its mouth, which empties into the Gila 
after its confluence with the San Francisco, 



below the Pino village. While there they fell 
in with a party of Apaches, Avith one of whom 
they traded for a parcel of yellow metal which 
he called oro, and which he told them he ob- 
tained at a place half a day's travel from where 
they were and where he said there was inucJio ; 
but he did not specify further, for the other 
Indians threatened to kill him if he revealed 
the locality or made any further disclosures. 
This being the first native gold Hawken had 
seen, he was not sure of its identity ; but on 
the opinion of his companion, who had seen 
it before, they took it with them to Taos, and 
it proved to be nine dollars in value of pure 
gold. 

We heard here very extravagant accounts 
of the gold brought from Cahfomia by those 
returning from there ; some, as they said, hav- 
ing come back with mule loads of the dust. 

Micajah McGehee. 



CALIFORNIANA. 



Montgomery and Fremont : New Documents on the 
Bear Flag Affair. 

THERE have lately been put into my hands by the 
editor of The Century certain original docu- 
ments of decided importance for the history of the 
seizure of California. I have been asked to examine 
these and to summarize a portion of their contents, a 
thing which I the more readily do because they serve 
to set in a clearer light than heretofore the honorable 
conduct of an officer whose part in the seizure of Cali- 
fornia was a difficult and delicate one, and who himself 
did his duty so well and so modestly that he has in the 
past altogether escaped the celebrity that has fallen to the 
lot of other persons surely not more deserving. This 
ofificer, Commander (a/terward Rear-Admiral) John B. 
Montgomery, was in 1846 in command of the United 
States ship Portsmoiitli. His ship visited California 
in 1845 ; returned in October to the southern Mexican 
coast ; was at Alazatlan October 16, 1845, ^"'i ^^ Guay- 
mas December 2 ; and returned again to California, 
under Sloat's orders, in the spring of 1846. The pur- 
pose of her coming was to inquire into the alarming 
reports that had gone southward concerning the quar- 
rel of March between Fremont and Castro. She 
reached Monterey towards the end of April, later pass- 
ing on to San Francisco ; and she lay in the harbor of 
San Francisco until after the raising of the American 
flag at that port on July 9, a date two days later than 
the seizure of Monterey. Montgomery's stay at San 
Francisco thus covered the entire time of the Bear 
Flag episode. From him Captain Fremont obtained, 
through Lieutenant Gillespie, supplies to enable him 
" to continue his explorations " and to accomplish liis 
other peaceful duties during that now famous affair. 
To him, in fact, Captain Fremont also wrote, as he 
himself declares in his letter to Senator Benton of 
July 25, 1846 (see Fremont's " Memoirs," p. 546), " de- 
scribing to him fully my position and intentions, in 
order that he might not unwittingly commit himself in 



affording me other than such assistance as his instruc- 
tions would authorize him naturally to offer an officer 
charged with an important public duty ; or, in fine, to 
any citizen of the United States." To Montgomery 
also General Valiejo appealed by messenger after the 
Bear Flag men had made the general their prisoner. 
From Montgomery Castro demanded an account of 
what the Bear Flag meant, and of what part the United 
States Government had therein; and meanwhile the 
Bear Flag men themselves were begging him for coun- 
sel and encouragement ; and every officer on board the 
Portsmouth was longing for the coming of Sloat and for 
the end of this tedious attitude of neutrality. In this 
trying position Montgomery kept his head, and did his 
duty with a firmness that the documents before me put 
in a very clear light. These documents are, (i) ex- 
tracts from Montgomery's private diary, (2) copies 
of the official correspondence of 'the commander, with 
letters to and from Larkin, Fremont, Castro, Gillespie, 
and others. Of these letters some have previously 
been known, through the papers of Consul Larkin, 
and otherwise. Several are also printed in Fremont's 
" Memoirs," although the aforesaid letter of Captain 
Fremont to Montgomery, " describing to him fully my 
position and intentions," has been, as I believe, here- 
tofore unknown, and furnishes the most characteristic 
and interesting addition to our previous knowledge 
that is contained among these papers. 

There is space here for only a very brief account of 
the substance of the extracts from Montgomery's diary. 
The earlier extracts concern the visit to California in 
1845. At Monterey, Montgomery interviewed Consul 
Larkin, and " learned from him that American inter- 
ests were perfectly secure, and little probability of their 
being interrupted in any way unless by a war with 
Mexico." There was indeed some talk between the 
two concerning the supposed English designs upon 
California, and Larkin told Montgomery of a reported 
subsidy that was to be paid by England to Mexico for 



CALIFORNIANA. 



781 



the support of the new troops that were to he sent to 
California. These rumors, to be sure, have long been 
known to students of this period of C!alifornia history. 
It is interesting to find that both Larkin and Mont- 
gomery at the moment believed them ; although there 
is indeed little evidence for their trutii, and although 
Montgomery learned of no very authorit.ative source 
for them. In October, Montgomery, then at Acapulco, 
notes the failure of the Mexican plan to send troops 
to California, a failure which he attributes to " the 
supineness of the Government and want of funds." 
It is certain that whatever the Knglish intrigues of 
those days may have been with regard to California, 
one in vain looks for evitience of any decisive move- 
ment of any sort resulting from them. On April 23, 
1846, Montgomery, then just arrived, at Monterey, 
received information from I^rkin " that the com- 
mercial and other interests of the United States con- 
tinued safe, having experienced no interruption or 
annoyance since our \nsit in Octol^er last." As the 
quarrel of March between F"rt-mont and Castro was 
now a matter of very recent history, and as Mont- 
gomery had come especially to find out about it, one 
reads this statement with some surprise, but finds the 
explanation in words which follow a little later, in the 
same entry of the iliary, after a brief statement of the 
nature of the March quarrel itself: " It is here well 
understood that no real attack upon the camp of Cap- 
tain Fremont was contemplated by General Castro 
when he directed this movement, but that it was done 
with the view only of furnishing materials for forming 
a high-sounding, flaming despatch to the central gov- 
ernment of Mexico." " Mr. Larkin informed me," 
continues Montgomery, " that the unsettled condition 
of California seems to point to a necessity, and natu- 
rally produces in the public mind an expectation, of 
a sj>eedy political change of some kind; and that the 
feeling is rife that California is soon to be governed 
by Kngland or the United States, predilections being 
divided," The diary adds that, in Larkin's opinion, 
the native and Mexican population of the country 
would find a " change under either " England or the 
United States "acceptable," and that if the war with 
Mexico should come to pass there would be no great 
trouble in securing the prize for our own flag. On 
April 29 .Montgomery is "informed by the consul 
that tieneral Castro is troubled with suspicions of 
collusion between Captain Fremont and myself, and 
supposes that I have sent for him to return to Mon- 
terey." On May 4 Lieutenants Bartlett and Wilson, 
having returned from an excursion into the interior, 
tell Montgomery of their j>leasant reception, and say 
that both American residents in the vicinity of San 
Jos<^, and " many of the most intelligent Mexicans and 
Californians," '• express openly their desire" for the 
coming of our flag, and " fearlessly speak of it " as 
an event " which is near at hand." .Montgomery him- 
self adds the expression of his belief in the growing 
chances of .in easy occupation of the land. His own 
social relations with Castro continued good daring all 
tiiis time. May 9 he attende<l a large picnic given by 
Castro himself, and May 15 Castro was a guest at a 
l>all given on shore by the wardroom officers of the 
Portsmouth. Castro's military preparations, which still 
continue<l, are correctly interpreted by Montgomery 
as hanng in the main relation to the feud between 



the Commandante General and Governor Pio I'ico. 
kumors of p"r6mont's expected return continued. 

We now come, however, to more exciting events. 
June 7 finds Montgomery in San Francisco Hay. 
(;illcs|iie has just arrived, on his return from the north, 
bringing a requisition from Captain Frdmont for su|)- 
plies. Frt-mont himself has come back to the Sacra- 
mento Valley. His party is "nearly destitute," as 
appears from the letter written by Gillespie, and copied 
in the " Correspondence " which accompanies the diary. 
Gillespie's mission to the bay, and his success in getting 
supplies for Frdmont from Montgomery, have always- 
been known matters of our history. It is also known, 
from a letter summarized in my " California " (p. 106), 
that Gillespie represented to non-official residents at 
the bay that the purpose of Fr^*mont in asking for sup- 
plies was solely to equip his party for setting out at 
once on his return overland. It has, however, never 
before been absolutely sure that Montgomery received 
no hint from Gillespie of Fremont's real intentions in 
asking for this aid. H. H. IJancroft, in Vol. V. of his 
"California," p. 127, can only say: " I know of no rea- 
son to suppose that Montgomery was informed by 
Gillespie of the revolutionary project on foot." The 
present papers, both diary and correspondence, put it 
beyond doubt tliat Montgomery had no notion of the 
coming outbreak. He honored in perfectly good faith 
the topographical engineers' requisition for necessary 
supplies for his scientific expedition, and on June 1 1 
despatched the ship's launch with the desired stores. 
On the way up the river, on the very first day of the 
launch's journey, Gillespie heard of the capture of 
Arce's horses by the settlers, an act with which, as is 
known, the Bear Flag affair was begun. A hastily 
penciled note from him (here copied) gave the first in- 
formation to Montgomery of what was afoot ; but Gil- 
lespie had no intention of revealing as yet Fr(?mont's 
connection with the undertaking. In the postscript to 
his note Gillespie writes: " I am of the opinion that 
the settlers h.ive obtained decided proof of Castro's 
intention to have their crops burned to warrant the 
course they have pursued. The bearer hereof says he 
heard a messenger to Captain Suiter state that they had 
acted under advice from ("aptain Fremont. If such is 
the fact, which I very much doubt, there is positive cause 
for hostility on the part of the settlers," In his diary 
Montgomery now gives, between the 15th and the iSth 
of June, an interesting account of his earliest relations 
with the Sonoma insurgents and with their opponents. 
These four days were very full of news and excitement. 
Montgomery fully believed the settlers to be .icting 
upon their own responsibility. His private symfia- 
Ihics were altogether with them. They were his coun- 
trymen, newcomers in a distant land, exposed to 
hardship, and now, as he thought, thre.itened with op- 
pression. He believetl, naturally enough, the reports 
which were freely circulated as to Castro's designs 
against them, although he knew too much to regard 
("astro as a very formidable foe to anybotly. But 
meanwhile he valued the honor of his flag, and he 
knew the duties of a neutral. He could sympathize 
with the insurgents ; but he could not give them aid. 
With an intlignation which must seem to us quite 
pathetic, he <icfcndc<l Fremont, as a fellow -officer un- 
der the flag, from the fierce accusation> of Castro, who 
wrote from Santa Clara on June 17 demanding from 



782 



CALIFORNIANA. 



the commander an explanation of Fremont's conduct. 
Castro pointed out tliat tlie captain of the surveying 
expedition, " without the formalities establislied among 
civilized nations," had invaded the country and seized 
Sonoma. Montgomery replied (June 18), in a tone of 
absolute assurance, that Fremont's expedition was 
solely scientific in its aims, and that it was " in no man- 
ner whatever, either by authority of the United States 
Government or otlierwise, connected with the political 
movement of residents of the country at Sonoma." 
For Castro to assert that such a connection existed 
was, so Montgomery retorted, " to impugn the integ- 
rity of the United States Government." It was his 
turn, he suggested, to demand explanations when his 
flag was by implication thus dishonored. But alas for 
Montgomery's sincere and genuine indignation on be- 
half of his brother officer! Ten days later, June 28, 
the diary mentions a second visit of Gillespie, bringing 
the news that Fremont had openly joined the Bears, 
and was in pursuit of Torre in the San Rafael region. 
"This course of Captain Fremont," says Montgomery 
in his private diary, " renders my position as a neutral 
peculiarly delicate and difficult. Having avowed not 
only my own but Captain Fremont's entire neutrality 
and non-interference in the existing difficulties in the 
country, it can scarcely be supposed, under the cir- 
cumstances, that I shall be regarded as having spoken 
in good faith and sincerity." In fact, as one sees, 
Montgomery learned that under certain circumstances 
one may expose his country's honor to only the more 
reproach by chivalrously offering his own honor in 
defense of his brethren in the service. 

The mission of Lieutenant Misroon, whom Mont- 
gomery despatched to Sonomaas neutral and mediator, 
occupies considerable place in these records ; as do 
also other well-known public incidents of those days. 
But there remain still two important topics upon which 
these documents give significant testimony. With the 
mention of these I must close. 

First : It has always been doubtful, I believe, when 
the first news of the actual hostilities on the Rio 
Grande reached Fremont. What we have known here- 
tofore is tliat Sloat at Mazatlan was informed of the 
beginning of active hostilities by a message that reached 
him May 1 7, and that a letter, which he at once wrote 
to Larkin, reached Monterey by the Cyane on June 
19, nearly a week after the seizure of Sonoma. Up to 
this time Fremont himself had avoided an open union 
with the Bears. He had taken charge of Vallejo and 
the other prisoners first taken. But he had remained 
quiet. Yet, on the 2ist, hewas already making prepa- 
rations to leave Sutter's Fort with his party, and on 
the 25tli he reached Sonoma. It is, of course, interest- 
ing to learn whether the openness of Fremont's hostile 
proceedings from this time forth could have been due 
to any fresh assurance that actual war was under way 
on the Atlantic coast. Professor William Carey Jones, 
in an article recently written in defense of Fremont's 
conduct durmg the early part of the seizure of Califor- 
nia,! has endeavored to make probable an earlier date 
for Fremont's knowledge of the hostilities on the Rio 
Grande than had generally been supposed likely. The 
present documents do not bear out his view. It appears 

' See " Proceedings of the California Historical Association," 
Vol. I., p. I. Professor Jones's somewhat original interpretation of 
the relations between Montgomery and Fremont is almost entirely 
set aside by these new documents. 



that, on June 20, both Larkin liimself and Captain 
Mervine, of the Cyane, wrote to Montgomery from 
Monterey. Their two letters, written the day after the 
Cyane' s arrival, together inform Montgomery that Sloat 
is on his way northward, and, without directly men- 
tioning the outbreak of hostilities, speak of " important 
news," that "cannot be revealed," but of whose nature 
Montgomery shall before long be "apprised." This 
guarded tone was very tormenting to Montgomery, 
whose neutral position was daily growing more intol- 
erable. As late as June 26 he still believed Fremont 
to be as neutral in conduct as himself, and so on the 
latter day he wrote to Fremont, transmitting the con- 
tents of Larkin's letter, as being the whole of his 
news. This letter, with other despatches, was sent to 
Fremont at Sutter's Fort under care of Lieutenant 
Bartlett. When Bartlett reached the fort Fremont 
was already with the Bears. The letter, therefore, 
went on to Sonoma, and was acknowledged by Fre- 
mont as late as July 5 as something new, and, as re- 
gards the facts about Sloat, very interesting. When 
one adds that Montgomery, writing on July 2 to 
Mervine, and begging for more information, says 
emphatically, " We have been completely cut off 
from all information from below [/. e., from Mexico] 
since the ist of April last " [/. e., since Montgomery's 
own departure from the south], one sees the great 
improbability that before July i any one north of 
Monterey knew more than the little that Larkin 
and Mervine chose to reveal to Montgomery, and 
to one or two other of Larkin's confidants. And 
this little did not include information of the actual 
hostilities. 

The second and final matter of which I spoke above 
is contained in the text of Fremont's letter to Mont- 
gomery, written upon the reception of the supplies 
brought by the launch. The letter is dated " ^t\\ 
Helvetia," June 16, and, taken in connection with 
all the circumstances of the moment, it forms one of 
the most interesting confessions that Fremont ever 
chose to make of his position at the moment of his 
entrance upon hostilities. It will be remembered 
that, according to Fremont's own statement to Benton, 
this letter was to " describe fully " his own " position 
and intentions " ; that it was written especially for the 
guidance of Montgomery, who had just shown the 
greatest willingness to aid the leader of the scientific 
exploration by every means in his power ; that it was 
prepared after the settlers had begun, under Fremont's 
advice, their movement for independence ; and finally, 
that it was written but a very few days before Fremont 
started to join the Bears at Sonoma. The moment was 
a critical one. Fremont has since asserted that he 
acted upon special instructions. In his " Memoirs " 
(p. 520) he speaks of this very time as the one when 
he decided "that it was," as he says, "for me rather 
to govern events than to be governed by them." 
Under these circumstances, to write to Montgomery 
as follows is to furnish the best possible comment 
upon one's own conduct. The sentence italicized in 
the following copy of this letter has in Montgomery's 
record but one word italicized, viz.: the word active 
in the phrase " such active and precautionary meas- 
ures." I print it thus here in order that it may be set 
side by side in the curious reader's mind with other 
and later accounts that General Fremont has given 



CALIFORNIA NA. 



783 



«>f his instructions. Otherwise the letter appears 
unthanpcd. 

New HF.t.VF.TiA. C"ai.ifornia. 
June 16, 1846. 

Sir : I had the (fratification lo receive on the 6th your 
letter of the 3d Inst. ; and iho farther pratilicntion to re- 
ceive yestcrdav by the hands of I ■ nt Muntrryiur 

favor of the loth conveying to m<- «'s of your dis- 
position to do anvttr ' ' ■• -v...).. ..) your instruc- 
tions to facihtatc the : in which I am cnjjajjrd. 
In acknowlcdKing th- !■ ■ - 1,1, "i iln- stores with which ynu 
have supplird us, I Ivp you to receive the earnest thanks 
of mvsen and party for the prompt and activo kindnoss, 
which we are all in a condition fully to appreciate. My 
time to-day has been so constantly engrossed that I could 
make no opportunity to write, and as it is now nrar!v mid- 
night you wdl permit me to referyou to Lieutenant llunfer 
for an account of the condition of the country, which will 
doubtless have much interest for you. The people here 
have made some movements with the view of estanlishing 
a settled and stable government, which may give security 
to their persons and property. This evening I was inti-r- 
rupted in a note to yourself fay the arrival of General \'al- 
lejo and other officers, who had been taken prisoners and 
insisted upon surrendering to me. The people and au- 
thorities of the country persist in connecting with me 
every movement of the foreigners, and 1 am hourly in 
expectation of the approach of General Castro. My po- 
sition has ronsequcntlv become a difficult one. The unex- 
pected hostility which has been exercised towards us on the 
part of the military authorities of California has entirely 
deranged the plan of our survey and frustrated my inten- 
tion of examining the Colorado of the Gulf of California, 
which was one of the principal objects of this expedition. 
The suffering towhich my party would be unavoidably ex- 
posed at this advanced period of the year, by deprivation 
of water during intervals of three and four days, renders 
anv movement in that direction impracticable. 

It is therefore my present intention to abandon the 
farther prosecution of our exploration and proceed im- 
mediately across the mountainous country to the eastward 
in the direction of the heari-waiersof the Arkansaw River, 
and thence to the frontier of Missouri, where I expect to 
arrive early in September. In order to recruit my aniinals 
and arrange my eauipage for a long journey, I shall nec- 
essarily be compelled to remain here until about the ist 
of July. In the mean time should anything be attempted 
against me. I cannot, consistently with my own feelings 
and respect for the nationalcharactcr of the duty in which 
I am engaged, permit a repetition of the recent insults 
we have receivea from General Castro. If, therefore, any 
hostile movements are m.ide in this direction, I will most 
assuredly meet or anticipate them ; and with such inten- 
tions I am regulating my conduct to the people here. 
The nature of my instructhw. andthefeaceful nature of 
our operations do not ointemplate */»' arthe noftilitv on mv 
part even in the event of uuir between the t,vo countries ; and 
therefore, althout^h / am rf ^h'r.i /,• lake such attii'e atid pre- 
cautionary measures as I sh necessarv for our sal'f; , 
I am not authorized to ask / :nv other than surh 
tante as. without incumr t unusual res f 
you would feel at liberty t, ,■ . Such an ei 
could not have been aniicip.Ked in anv insiruti 
but, between Indians on the one hand and ah' 
people on the other, I trust that our government will not 
severely censure any efforts to which we may be driven 
in defense of our lives and character. 

In this condition of things I can only then urcrenfly re- 
quest that you will remain with the . th in' the 
May of San Francisco, where vnnr pi' il oi>eratc 
strongly to check proceeding; s us; and I would 
feel much more security in nr. 1 should you judge 
it advisable to keep open a communication with ine by 
means of your l>oats. In this way you would receive the 
earliest information, and you might possibly spare us the 
aid of one of your surgeons, in cxse of accident here. 
Repeating my thanks Pir the assistance you h.ive ren- 
dered us, and regretting my inaliility to visit you on Ijoard 
the Portsmouth, \ am, sir. very respectfully. 
Your obet. servant, 
(Signed) J. C. Fremont. 

Pt. dipt. Topi. Enpntert, U. S. A rmy. 
Capt. Jno. B. Montgompkv, 

U. S. Ship Portsmouth, 
Hay of San Franosco, Cai-ifornia. 



The italicized sentence excludes the possibility that 
Fremont's instructions had the warlike nature which 
he has since attributed lo them. In those days his 
only intent was to pretend that he wa.s in danger from 
Castro. 

These papers also contain the record of Montgom- 
ery's admirable conduct of the later blockade of Ma. 
zatlan, an affair which yet further tried his skill and 
his excellent discretif)n. The whole scries of <locu- 
mcnts is a very instructive one, and I should be glad 
to see them all in print. 

Josiah Royce, 
Cambriix-.r, Mass. 



784 



CALIFORNIANA. 



evaded, and proceed with the necessary permit to bar- 
ter the cargo for hides, skins, tallow, etc. Having dis- 
posed of his goods, the captain would then sail for some 
uninhabited island or obscure port, where he would 
meet by previous appointment the vessel from Hono- 
lulu with a fresh invoice of merchandise, exchange car- 
goes with her, and resume his trading on the coast 
with new goods under the original permit, the consort 
returning meanwhile to her port to exchange her hides, 
etc., for a fresh cargo of merchandise. This profitable 
game would be kept up as long as the custom-house 
authorities could be hoodwinked, or until the license 
expired by limitation. 

The commission house of C. Brewer <"v Tn <-.f ■,..v;-t- 



manding H. B. M. frigate Carysfort, misled by false 
representations of the acting British consul and his 
clique, and dazzled by visions of fame and promotion 
to be gained by adding another station for the " Brit- 
ish drum-beat," took possession of the group in the 
nameofher Majesty Victoria, pulled down the Hawaiian 
flag, which in its design symbolized the protection of 
the three great naval powers, and hoisted St. George's 
Cross in its stead. His lordship at once placed an em- 
bargo on the vessels in port, to prevent the harassed 
sovereign Kamehameha IH. from sending an envoy 
with his complaints to England ; seized the king's 
favorite yacht, the Hooikaika (Swift-runner), renamed 
her H. B. M. tender Albert, manned her with officers 
and crew from the Carysfort, and despatched her to San 
Bias with the late acting consul Simpson as bearer of 
despatches to London. 

Having accepted the king's appointment as envoy to 
bear his protest to Queen Victoria, and his demand for 
the restoration of his sovereignty, of which he Imd un- 
justly been deprived, I succeeded, by a simple ruse, 
in smuggling myself on board the Albert, and thus 
reaching San Bias in company with Simpson, at Lord 
George's expense, though without his knowledge. My 
adventures on that mission have already been related 
(see " Harper's Monthly," September, 1883). 

Rapidly crossing Mexico,. I embarked at Vera Cruz 
for New Orleans, en route for London via Washing- 
ton, where I had despatches to deliver for Daniel 
Webster, then Secretary of State, from the American 
consul at Honolulu. 

I arrived at New Orleans May 22, 1843, and went 
to the St. Charles, that ancient and well-known hos- 
telry, then admirably kept by thelate Charles R. Mudge, 
since well known as one of Boston's merchant princes, 
and the late Daniel C. Waterman, who afterward was 
a respected merchant at Honolulu. Among the thoughts 
that occupied my mind as I again set foot in my native 
land after several years' absence, that of learning the 
fate of the gold dust shipment in New Orleans did not 
find place. But here I was to learn the solution of the 
mystery. As I registered my name and address at the 
St. Charles, Mr. Waterman inquired with much inter- 
est whether I knew thf firm of Peirce & Brewer, and 
on learning that I was connected with the firm, thus ex- 
plained the delay in the delivery of the parcel sent by 
the Braganza, whose captain was his cousin. Being in 
New Bedford when the Bragafiza arrived from Hono- 
lulu, and about to stop a day in Boston on his return 
to New Orleans, he took the package with him, prom- 
ising to deliver it to Mr. Peirce, the resident partner. 
Arriving at the Tremont House after business hours, 
he marked the parcel with his own name, " to be called 
for," and handed it to the clerk, who placed it in the 
safe. The next day Mr. Waterman, without a thought 
of the commission he had promised to execute, attended 
to his business in the city and left for New Orleans. 
Having occasion to visit Boston some months later, he 
was greatly chagrined to find the parcel which he had 
forgotten still in the hotel safe, and lost no time in 
delivering it, to the agreeable surprise of Mr. Peirce, 
who, being unable to trace it, had given it up for lost, 
at least until the Braganza should again return from 
a three or four years' voyage. 

This little invoice of gold dust was, so far as I know, 
the first California gold sent to the United States for 



Talleyrand. 

The paragraphs from the Nfemoirs which did not 
reach ns in time to follow the passage (jiven in the 
June Ckntiry simply threw out the idea that Mau- 
breuil, who accused Talleyrand of the desire to bril>c 
him to assassinate the fallen P.mperor, in 1814, prob- 
ably obtained his jiassporls for a " secret mission " 
merely as one of the numerous emissaries sent out by 
the royalists to all points in France In proclaim the 
"legitimate" government. Talleyrand again denies 
the attempted accusation, and shows, moreover, how 
absurd an<l useless it would have been, as well as 
infamous. 



CALIFORNIANA. 477 

An Incident of " General Milea'a Indian Campaigna." 



Gknkrai. Nf.i„son a. Mii.es, after seeing the proofs 
of M.ijor G. W. Baird's article in this number of TltE 
Cknti;ry, wrote to the editor as follows : 

RcfrrrinR to the desperate fiRht with the Nez Percys 
in Scplembor, 1877 [sec pa-" -^ -"■ ' ''■•' '" " 1 ■■ '• Mnjor 
G. \V . Uaird stales that a m<r to 

Rivr certain orders to Capi.i.., , ; ..,.,; ufliccr 

dead, Major Haird very modestly omits his own name, 
wliich should !><• inserted, as he w.is adjutant at that time, 
an<l m carrying the order he found Captain Hale and 
Lieutenant LSiddle dead, and received twu desperate 
wounds himself, one shaitering his left arm and the other 
cutting the side of his head. 



CALIFORNIANA. 



Arrival of Overland Trains in California in " "49." 

Wiin the fall of '49 came to California the vanguard 
of the immense immigration that braved the hardships 
of weather, Indian perils, cholera, fevers and starvation, 
in that long march across a continent in pursuit of gold. 
Not only men, but delicate women and children shut 
their eyes to every comfort and association of home, and 
faithfully shared these dangers and perils, or were buried 
in nameless graves on prairie, mountain, or desert. 

In every subsequent year the State of California, with 
liberal appropriation and abundant supplies, sent out 
her citizens with open hand to welcome and aid the fee- 
ble and exhausted with every necessary assistance at the 
latter end of their long journey. But in 1849 there was 
no organized effort for systematic succor. The emi- 
grants of that ye.ir were numbered by thousands, and 
circumstances made it impossible, except to a very limi- 
ted extent, to meet and greet them even with words of 
good cheer. It was only through individual effort that 
aid could be extended them, ami almost every individ- 
ual was in some respects as harfl pressed as they. 

I can find only one instance U|X)n the official records 
where Government jirotection was thrown around them, 
and that is in (icneral kiley's report to the War Depart- 
ment, under dale of August 30, 1849, in which he says, 
in reference to his need of soldiers in place of those who 
h.id <leserte<l : " The detachment of dragoons on their 
march to the Department with the collector of this dis- 
trict attii till- Arkansas emi^rattls, have not yet arrived." 

.\mong those who contributed individual effort in go- 
ing out to meet the trains I can name only a few — 
first of all (Jeneral Sutter; Sam Brannan of Sacra- 
mento, who was identified with the so-called '* Mormon 
battalion"; Colonel Gillespie, formerly United .States 
consul for Lower California, then a merchant in Sacra- 
mento; Cieneral Morehouse, Dr. Semple, and, I may 
safely say, the business men of Sacramento generally. 
There were others, but at this late day it is impossible 
to name them. Even the name of the comrade who ac- 
companied the writer is forgotten. 

.Among those who came to ,\uburn in May, 1849, 
was Dr. Deal of Baltimore, a physician and a Metho<iiNt 
pre.icher. He was very enthusiastic in stating his pur- 
pose to become one of the " honest miners," and call- 
ing a gathering together with a long tin dinner-horn, 



he expressed his intention to dig with them, and to 
institute divine worship the next Sunday, and he 
closed by making the hills echo with a cheery hymn. 
Monday morning's sunrise saw the doctor in the mines 
with tin pan, pick, and shovel. Kleven o'clock saw him 
with his shovel battered, his pick broken, his hands 
bruised and blistered, and his clothes muddy, placing his 
tools and tin horn in a wagon bound for Sutter's Fort. 
It wa.s well he did, for together with another good Sa- 
mciritan he leased a part of Sutter's Fort for a hospital, 
and when the forlorn bands of immigrants reached 
the Fort they found medical attention and care, which 
in many cases saved life or eased the passage to the 
grave. 

The" Long Bar " mining claim on Bear Creek, where 
I was located, lay in the route of arriving immigrants, 
on the Sutter's Fort trail, a hundred miles from the fort. 
I shall never forget the sight presented by the tired, 
starved, sick, and discouraged travelers, with their 
bony and foot-sore cattle and teams. Men, women, and 
children, and animals were in every state of distress and 
emaciation. Some had left everything along the way, 
abandoning wagons and worn-out cattle to the wolves 
— lea\nng even supplies of clotln'ng, flour, and food — 
and in utter desperation and extreniity had packed 
their own backs with^lour and bacon ; some had util- 
ized the backs of surviving oxen for the same purpose ; 
and a few of the inimii^rants had thus made the last 600 
miles on foot, exhaustecl, foot-sore, and starving. 

Such as wc could we relieved from our sim|>lecamp 
stores of flour, bacon, and coffee. Our blankets were 
spread on the ground for our nightly rest, always 
after an evening bath in the cooling snow-waters of 
Bear Creek, and our sleep was sweet and scmnd. But 
there was no comfort or relief for those worn-out men, 
women, .and children. The few of us in that lonely 
river bed in the mountains did what we could, an<l then 
urged them on to Sutter's Fort and Sacramento. 

I remember well the arrival of a once stalwart man, 
reduced almost to a skeleton. His comrades had \kt- 
ished on the way with cholera, his cattle had given 
out, and, selecting what he could carry that was most 
essential, he had finished the journey on foot. Reach- 
ing the place where wc were digging and washing out 
the gold, he threw himself u|>on the ground, and 
said : 



478 



BRIC-A-BRAC. 



" And now I 've reached at last where you dig out the 
gold. For this I have sacrificed everything. I had a 
comfortable home, but I got 'the fever.' Everything 
is gone, my comrades are dead, and this is all there is 
left of me. I thought I would be glad to get here, 
but I am not. I don't feel the least desire to dig gold 
now. All I ask for is rest — rest — rest. It seems to 
me as if I never could get rested again. I want to find 
home — home — and there is no home here." 

He inquired how far it was to Sutter's Fort, and re- 
fusing proffered food or a look at the gold, he staggered 
feebly on again to look for " rest " and " home." 

In September the swarm of immigrants became so 
continuous and their condition was so wretched, that 
I obtained one of their mules that seemed able to carry 
me, and giving up my business of gold-digging for a 
time started with a comrade up the Truckee River 
route to advise and encourage the new-comers. Here 
I witnessed many sorrowful scenes among sick and 
hungry women and children just ready to die, and 
dead and dying cattle. The cattle were usually reduced 
to skeletons. There was no. grass, and they were fed 
solely by cutting down trees for them to browse on. 
But the cattle were too many for this supply of food 
along the trail. I once counted as many as thirty yoke 
hitched together fo pull an almost empty wagon up a 
hillside, while to descend an incline it was necessary to 
chain a large tree to the back of the wagon, with allits 
limbs attached that they might impede the descent of 
the wagon, for the cattle were entirely too weak to of- 
fer the necessary resistance. One after another the 
wagons would follow, and thus slowly work their way 
up and down the mountain sides of the Sierra pass, 
while the women and children weariljPplodded along 
in the deep, dry, and exceedingly dusty trail. Some 
fared better, but I apprehend few would ever care to 
pass twice through the hardships of the overland jour- 
ney of '49. 

As an instance of courage and suffering : A 
preacher, of the Methodist Church in Indiana, ac- 
companied by his wife (a delicate little woman) and 
three children, started overland with ox teams. On the 
journey he was suddenly attacked with dysentery and 
had to lie helpless in the bottom of his wagon, vibrat- 



ing between life and death. His brave little wife took 
his place, walked by the side of the team and guided 
them; but she lost her way, and for two weeks, with 
husband and children to care for, trudged along alone 
until by good fortune or a good Providence she found 
the trail again. I afterward made their acquaintance 
in Columbia, where he was pastor of the Methodist 
church. Wishing his church sealed inside, he took off 
his clerical coat, chopped wood, broke up limestone 
boulders, burned them into lime, and with his own 
hands plastered the interior of the church in good 
style. 

At first we tried to give the new-comers employment 
on our mining claims, but in every case but one their 
strength was not equal to the labor of digging gold, and 
on they swept, all eager to reach a " settlement." Some 
in their enthusiasm had, at great sacrifice, dragged along 
strange, heavy, and wonderful patent devices to work 
out the gold. Often they had thrown away their flour 
and bacon, thus reducing themselves to starvation, to 
make room for their pet machine, which on trial was 
found utterly worthless, and was left to rust or rot in 
the mines. 

Special relief parties were also sent up the trail with 
supplies of food, medicine, and other necessaries, as 
well as witli fresh animals, and many immigrants were 
safely brought in,beforethe snowsfell in themountains, 
who otherwise might have perished in the storms of 
early fall. 

A. C. Ferris. 

A Fourth Survivor of the Gold Discovery Party. 

Rev. James Gillila.n', of Nephi, Utah, informs us 
that in addition to the three survivors of the party at 
Sutter's Mill at the time of the discovery of gold in 
California — namely, Messrs. Bigler, Smith, and Wim- 
mer, as stated by Mr. Hittell in our February number 
— there is a fourth survivor, Mr. Wilford Hudson (not 
"Willis"' as printed on page 530 of that number). 
Mr. Hudson is living at Grantsville, Tooele County, 
Utah, and his description of the circumstances of the 
gold discovery, says our informant, " substantially 
accords with Mr. Hittell's account." 



BRIC-A-BRAC. 



A Ballad of Paper Fans. 

I-ET others rave o'er Raphael, 
And dim and ancient canvas scan ; 
Ciive me in this so tropic spell 
The simple art of paper fan : 
The long-legged stork of far Japan, 
A-flying through its straggling trees, 
Does all for me that painting can — 
I bless the gentle Japanese. 



Give n-.e such dragons fierce and fell 
As earth saw when its life began ; 
Sweet views of frog and lily-bell. 
Of moon-faced maid, and slant-eyed man; 
Of flow'ry houghs athwart the wtm 
I'ull-orbed moon ; of azure seas ; 



And roseate landscapes on a plan 
Peculiar to the Japanese. 

Give me the hills that sink and swell, 
Faint green and purple, pink and tan. 
Joy would it ever be to dwell 
Where streams that little bridges span. 
Ignored, may flow 'twixt maid's sedan 
And lover's whispered flatteries ; 
For happy hearts are dearer than 
Perspective to the Japanese. 

V Envoi. 

O Love, how lightly, sweetly ran 
Life's sands iox us in climes like these! 
Long leagues would lose their power to ban 
Were you and I but Japanese ! 



Annie Stesr^t' Winston. 



A MIXER'S SUNDAV /.V COLOAfA. 



259 



Charley, she thought, tV)r they were clean, in- her chair, but such an act would have seemed 

nocent, and of graceful mien. After all, here foolish to one of her temperament, 

was one vastly dearer to her than those for .She went to bed in doubt and got up in 

whom she labored an«l prayed — one whose perplexity. She could not help looking for- 

heart and happiness lay in her very palm, ward to .Mrs. Frankland's Hible-rcading th.u 

Might she not soften her line of action some- afternoon with expectation that some message 

\\ hat for his sake ? would be providentially sent for her guidan< e. 

lUit conscience turned the glxs.s, and she re- The spirit perplexed iseversuperstili<nis. Since 

membered Wilhclmina, and thought of thehap- so many important deci.sions in life must be 

piness of little Hilda .Maginnis and her mother, made blindly. f)ne does not wonder that |>rim- 

W'as it nothing that (iod hail enihjweil her with itive men .settletl dark questions by studying 

this beneficent power? How could she shrink the stars, by interpreting the flight of birds, 

from the blessedness of dispensing the divine the whimsical zigzags of the lightning bolt, or 

mercy? Her imagination took flame at the the turning of the beak of a finvl this way or 

vision of a life of usefulness and devotion to that in picking corn. The human mind bewil- 

those who were suflering. dered is ever looking for crevices in the great 

Then she raised her heail and there were the mystery that inwrajjs the visible universe, and 

white flowers. She felt an impulse to kiss her ever hoping that some struggling beam from 

hand in good night to them as she rose from beyond may point to the best path. 



(To be continued.) 



Edward EggUston. 



A MINER'S SUNDAY IN CULU.M.X. 



(FROM THK WRITER'S CALIFORNLV JOURNAL. 1849-50.) 



j ' ' ^1 HE principal street of 

' j " )} Coloma was alive with 
*■ ' crowds of moving men, 
J' passing and repassing, 
laughing, talking, and all 
appearing in the best of 
humor: Negroes from the 
.Southern States swaggering 
in the expansive feeling of run- 
away freedom; mulattoes from 
Jamaica trudging arm-in-arm 
with Kanakas from Hawaii; 
Peruvians and Chilians claiming 
aftinity with the swarthier Mexi- 
cans ; Frenchmen, (Germans, and 
Italians fraternizing with one an- 
other and with the cockney fresh 
from the purlieus of St. (Jiles; an 
Irishman, with the dewdrop still in 
his eye, tracing relationship with the 
ragged .\ustralian; Yankees from the 
Penobscot chatting and bargaining with the 
genial Oregonians ; a few Celestials scattered 
here and there, their pigtails and conical hats 
recalling the strange pictures that took my 
boyish fancy while studying the geography of 
the East; last of all, a few Indians, the only 
indigenous creatures among all these exotics, 
lost, swallowed up — out of place like 

" rari nantcs in gurgite vasto." 

It was a scene that no other countr)' couUl 
ever imitate. Antipodes of color, race, religion. 




language, government, condition, size, capa- 
bility, strength and morals were there, within 
that .small village in the mountains of Cali- 
fornia, all impressed with but one purpose, — 
imi)elled with but one desire. 

A group of half a dozen Indians especially 
attracted my attention. They were strutting 
about in all the glory of newly acquired habili- 
ments ; but with this distinction — that one 
suit of clothes was suflicient to dress the whole 
crowd. The largest and best-looking Indian 
had appropriated the hat and boots, ami with- 
out other apparel walked about as proudly as 
any city clerk. Another was lost in an immense 
pair of pantaloons. A thinl sported nothing 
but a white shirt with ruftled bosom. .\ fourth 
flaunted a blueswallow-tailed coat. bespangled 
with immense brass buttons. A fifth was decked 
with a fla.shy vest ; while the sixth had noth- 
ing but a red bandana, which was carefully 
wrapped around his neck. Thus what would 
s( arcely serve one white man just as effectu- 
ally accommodated si.x Indians. 

Thestreet was onet ontinuous din. Thimble- 
riggers, French monte dealers, or string-game 
tricksters were shouting aloud at every comer: 
" Six ounces, gentlemen, no one can tell where 
the little joker is! " or " Het on the jack, the 
jack 's the winning card 1 Three ounce's no man 
can turn up the jack I " or " Here 's the place 
to git your money back ! The veritable .string 
game I Here it goes! Three, six, twelve ounces 
no one can put his finger in the loop I " But 



26o A MINER'S SUNDAY IN COIOMA. 

rising above all this ceaseless clamor Avas the " Brandy straight," " brandy punch," 
shrill voice of a down-east auctioneer, who, " brandy sling," " gin cocktail," and thus they 
perched on a large box in front of a very small went on, each one calling for a different drink, 
canvas booth, was disposing of the various Then the bargaining began. Butcher-knives 
articles in the shebang behind him," all at a bar- for crevicing, tin pans, shovels, picks, clothing 
gain." What a ragged, dirty, unshaven, good- of all colors, shapes, and sizes ; hats and caps 
natured assemblage ! — swallowing the stale of every style ; coffee, tea, sugar, bacon, flour, 
jests of the " crier " with the greatest guffaws, liquors of all grades in stiff-necked bottles — in 
and bidding with all the recklessness of half- a word, almost everything that could be enu- 
tipsy brains and with all the confidence of merated — were disposed of at a furious rate ; 
capacious, well-stuffed bags. Behind a smaller so that in an hour's time the contents of the little 
box, to the left of the Yankee, was a Jew in grocery were distributed among the jolly crowd. 
a red cap and scarlet flannel shirt, busy with Suddenly there was a great noise of shouting 
his scales and leaden weights, to weigh out and hurrahing away up the street, and, the 
the "dust "from the various purchasers. There crowd heaving and separating upon either 
was no fear of the weights being heavier than side, on came a dozen half-wild, bearded mi- 
the law allows, or that the tricky Jew by ners, fine, wiry, strapping fellows, on foaming 
chance should place the half-ounce on the horses, lashing them to the utmost, and giving 
scales when there was but a quarter due. That the piercing scalp-halloo of the Comanches ! 
there should be a it\4 pennyweights too many They suddenly halted in front of Winter's 
made no difference; it is only the hungry purse hotel, and while the greater number dis- 
that higgles about weights or prices. A little mounted and tumultuously entered the bar- 
bad brandy and a big purse made a miner room for. refreshment a few of the remainder 
wonderfully important and magnanimous; and made themselves conspicuous by acts of daring 
he regarded everything below an ounce as un- horsemanship — picking up knives from the 
Avorthy of attention. ground while at full gallop, Indian-like whirling 

This German Jew was also barkeeper. Be- on the sides of their steeds, then up and off like 

side him were a few tin cups, and a whole army the wind and, while apparently dashing i^^to 

of long and short necked, gaily labeled bottles, the surrounding crowd, suddenly reining in 

from which he dealt out horrible compounds their horses upon their haunches, and whirlir^g 

for fifty cents a drink. His eye brightened as them upon their hind legs, then without a stcP 

he perceived coming up the street a crowd of dashing off as furiously in the opposite direc- 

rollicking, thirsty, sunburned fellows, fresh from tion. These few proved to be Doniphan's wild 

their " diggins " among the hills. But the quick riders, who even excelledthe Mexican caballeros 

eye of the auctioneer also singled them out in their feats of horsemanship. At last, all to- 

and read their wants. gether once more they came sweeping down the 

" Here 's a splendid pair of brand-new boots ! street, apparently reckless of life and limb. As 

cowhide, double-soled, triple-pegged, water- they passed, the scurrying footmen cheered 

proof boots ! The very thing for you, sir, fit them on with great good nature. The crowd 

your road-smashers exactly ; just intended, cut closed again and in a brief time everything was 

out, made for your mud-splashers alone ; go- as restless as ever. 

ing for only four ounces and a half — four and Passing up the street, I came to a large un- 

ahalf! and gone — for four and a half ounces ; finished frame-house, the sashless windows 

walk up here and weigh out your dust." and doorway crowded with a motley crew, 

" Wet your boots, old boy ! " sang out the apparently intent upon something solemn hap- 

companions of the purchaser. pening within. After a little crowding and 

The barkeeper, with his weights already on pushing I looked over the numberless heads 

the scales, exclaimed, " Shtand back, poys, and in front, and saw — could I beheve my eyes? — 

let de shentlemens to de bar." a preacher, as ragged and as hairy as myself, 

The newcomers approached, crowding tu- holding forth to an attentive audience. Though 

multuously around their companion of the the careless and noisy crowd was surging im- 

boots, who, drawing out a long and well-filled mediately without, all was quiet within. He 

buckskin bag, tossed it to the expectant Jew with spoke Avell and to the purpose and warmed 

as much carelessness as if it were only dust. every one with his fine and impassioned deliv- 

" Thar 's the bag, old feller ! weigh out the ery. He closed with a benediction but pre- 
boots and eight lickers. Come, boys, call for faced it by saying: "There wifl be divine service 
what you like; it 's my treat — go it big, in this house next Sabbath — if, in the mean- 
fellers ! all one price." time, I hear ofno new diggin's ! " 

" Vat ye takes ? " asks the barkeeper, after The audience silently streamed out, the 
weighing out the amount due and handing the greater part directing their steps to a large, two- 
purse back to its owner. story frame-house across the street. This was 







Vou XLII.— 34. 



>62 



A MINER'S SUNDAY IN COLO MA. 



the \\oi<i\ par cxcelloicc oi \\-\Q\.C)\Mn\ one could 
easily perceive that by its long white colon- 
nade in front, and its too numerous windows 
in the upper story. 

A large saloon occupied the whole front of 
the building. FiUing up the far side of the 
room was the gaudy and well-stocked bar, 
where four spruce young fellows in shirt-sleeves 
and flowing collars were busily engaged deal- 
ing out horrible compounds to thirsty cus- 
tomers strung along the whole length of the 
counter. The other three sides of the saloon 
were crowded with monte tables, each one of 
which was surrounded with a crowd of old and 
young so that it was almost impossible to ob- 
tain a glimpse of the dealers or their glittering 
banks. There was a perfect babel of noises ! 
English, French, Spaniards, Portuguese, Ital- 
ians, Kanakas, Chilians, all were talking in their 
respective languages. Glasses were jingling, 
money was rattling, and, crowning all, two fid- 
dlers in a distant corner were scraping furiously 
on their instruments, seemingly the presiding 
divinities of this variegated pandemonium ! 

Crowding, inch by inch, into one of these 
motley groups, I found myself at last in front 
of a large table, neatly covered with blue cloth, 
upon which was a mass of Mexican silver dol- 
lars piled up in ounce or sixteen-dollar stacks. 
Immediately facing me was the banker ; a well- 
dressed, middle-aged, quiet little man, with one 
of the most demure countenances imaginable. 
Beside him was the croupier, a very boy, whose 
duty it was to rake in the winnings and pay 
out the losses, which he did with wonderful 
dexterity. 

Fronting the dealer, and dividing the silver 
into two equal portions, was a large Chinese 
box of exquisite construction. Upon it were 
ranged half a dozen packs of French and 
Spanish cards, several large masses of native 
gold, and a dozen or more buckskin bags of 
all sizes and conditions containing dust. Dol- 
lars and half-dollars were piled upon these 
purses — some with a few, others with a greater 
number thereon. One unacquainted with the 
game might guess for a day and not be able to 
hit upon the object of this arrangement, but a 
close observer might read elation or depression 
in the anxious eyes of the players, as the weight 
upon these bags was either diminished or in- 
creased. These purses were in pawn ; the dollars 
and half-dollars were the counters wherewith 
the banker numbered the ounces or half-ounces 
that might be owing to the bank. 

" There 's another millstone on the pile," 
groaned a thin-faced, watery-eyed little fellow 
in a hickory shirt and walnut pantaloons, as he 
saw another dollar added to his dust-bag. 

" Take off two o' them air buttons," laughed 
a fat-faced man in red shirt and Chinese cap. 



" I won two ounces on the deuce ; another bet 
like that, and my bag 's not for your mill, old 
feller ! " 

The cards were all out, and the " old feller " 
was shuffling them for a new deal ; during 
which operation he cast a furtive glance about 
the table to see if there were any new cus- 
tomers to bite at his game, or, perhaps, to note 
if any of those who had bitten seemed to be 
cooling off — a weakness which he hastened to 
counteract by singing out : " Barkeeper ! " and 
inquiring " What will the gentlemen take to 
drink ? " This invitation was given in such a 
quiet and insinuating manner that one hesi- 
tated to decline for fear of wounding the deli- 
cate sensibilities of the banker. Each called 
for what he wished, and all concluded to " fight 
the tiger " a little while longer. The sprightly 
barkeeper was back in a twinkling, with a large 
waiter covered with glasses. These he dis- 
tributed with wonderful dexterity, remember- 
ing perfectly what each one had ordered ; so 
that, much to the player's surprise, he found 
his own glass chosen from among twenty and 
placed before him. That barkeeper had a 
niche in his brain for every man at the table. 

The drinking over, the glasses were whisked 
away, and all hands were again ready for the 



game. 



" It 's your cut," said the banker, reaching the 
cards towards our watery-eyed acquaintance. 

" Jack and deuce ! Make your bets, gen- 
tlemen." 

The jack appeared to be the favorite ; ounce 
after ounce was staked upon it ; two more cards 
were thrown out. 

"Seven and ace. Come down, gents; come 
down ! " The seven was the favorite by odds. 

" All down, gents ? " inquired the dealer, as 
he rapped his knuckles on the table. 

" Hold on ! " exclaimed a shrill, puerile 
voice, as if coming from under the table. 
Every one looked down ; and there was ap- 
parently a curly-headed boy, whose mouth was 
little above the level of the bank. He cau- 
tiously, coolly and methodically thrust forth a 
small hand, and laid down two dimes upon the 
ace. Every one laughed — all but the dealer, 
who with the same placidity thrust back the 
dimes and dampened the little fellow's ardor by 
observing : 

" We don't take dimes at this bank." 

But no, the little fellow had spunk ; he was 
not so easily dashed. Picking up his dimes, 
his hand suddenly reappeared, this time hold- 
ing a very weighty buckskin bag apparently 
filled with the yellow dust. This he tossed upon 
the ace, exclaiming : 

" There ! I guess you '11 take that. Six 
ounces on the ace ! " 

Every one was astonished. All looked around 



264 A MINER'S SUNDAY IN COIOMA. 

to see if he had any relatives or friends in the cautiously the cards were drawn, one by one 

crowd. Reappeared to be entirely alone and — deuce, tray, king, queen, and seven appear 

a stranger to every one ; but the play began — in succession — and then — the five ! The boy 

and, strange to say, the ace won ! was again victorious : his fifty ounces were 

"Good!" "Bully!" "Lucky boy!" were the now one hundred. The last round made a 

exclamations on every side. The fortunate little huge chasm in the appearance of the bank, 

gambler pocketed his bag and placed upon the and the table immediately in front of the little 

deuce the six ounces he had just won. hero was absolutely covered with money. 

" Bar the porte ! " shouted the boy as the The banker was as cool and methodical as 
dealer was about to turn the cards. It was ever; taking a fresh pack he shuffled it care- 
well for him that he cried out in time, for the fully and made another lay-out. The boy bet 
jack was in the door. It was a narrow escape, his hundred ounces and was again victorious ! 
but the little fellow was safe for this time. Two hundred ounces were now piled up be- 
The cards were brushed aside and others took fore him. We advised him to desist, not to 
their places. The betting went bravely on. tempt his luck too far; but he coolly replied: 
The boy laid his money on the deuce and, " I '11 break that bank or it '11 break me ! " 
wonderful to say, it won ! He was now the Did any one ever hear of such determina- 
gainer by twelve ounces. He was the hero of tion, even in a man ? He increased in our 
the table ; all eyes were upon him ; and it was estimation, and we liked him all the better for 
seen that he was not as young as he seemed — his grit. More than half the bank was his al- 
an old head upon a child's shoulders ! For the ready, a fortune in itself! but the little, round, 
remainder of the deal old players regulated gray eyes of the boy were not upon his win- 
their bets by his, and he carried them along nings, but were feeding eagerly upon the moiety 
upon the wave. The bank looked a little sickly that was not yet his. 
from this bleeding. " Queen and tray. Come down," said the 

The deal being out, the banker, the same dealer, 

cool imperturbable figure, chose another pack " How much have you in the bank ? " asked 

of cards, and shuffled and cut and reshuffled the boy. 

them until the patience of the crowd was al- "A hundred and fifty ounces." 

most exhausted. It was the boy's cut, and a "I tap the bank upon the queen." 

lay-out was made. This would decide the game. A stillness as 

" Jack and queen. Come down with your of death was upon the crowd ; our breath was 

dust. Gentlemen, make your bets." hushed ; our very hearts almost ceased to beat ; 

The little fellow was very much puzzled ; it the suspense became painful ; even the banker 

was a hard matter to choose between the jack paused, and wiped the cold drops from his brow, 

and the queen. Another lay-out was made : The deck was faced at last, and calmly, 

the deuce against the seven. steadily, and without hurry the cards were 

" Twenty-five ounces on the deuce," said the drawn, one by one. One — two — three — four 

little man, piling all his winnings around the — five — he had lost ! The queen had thrown 

card. But few other bets were made; the him; and his entire winnings were ruthlessly 

older hands were afraid this sudden luck would swept away by the sharp croupier beyond, 

change, and they all held back. The plucky Dizzy and sick with the result, we turned 

lad was pitted against the man of fifty — our eyes upon the loser; he bore himself 

youth, enthusiasm and a dare-all luck arrayed bravely, and did not seem to feel the loss half 

against the craft and cunning of an experienced as sensibly as ourselves. He looked about with 

gambler ! How our sympathies were warmed a stern, defying air, as if to chide us for our 

by the fearlessness of the boy ! The play be- sympathy. As yet he had lost nothing ; his 

gan ; the deck was faced ; and, as I live, the large buckskin bag was still intact. Laying it 

deuce was in the door ! The boy won the full upon the table, with the air of a Caesar, he 

amount of his bet. put his all upon the throw, defying fate to do 

The successful urchin was the least excited her worst ! Our pity was suddenly changed to 

person in the room. He hauled in his winnings admiration. We felt that he was lost; but we 

as carelessly as if those stacks of dollars were were sure he would die game, 

only chips. Another shuffle, and another lay- The cards were again shuffled and cut. The 

out was made. The field was now given up sevenand the king were laid out; the boy chose 

entirely to the two antagonists. The ace and the king. The cards were drawn, slowly and 

the five were the cards ; against all our hints steadily ; at last the seven appeared ; and the 

the boy staked his fifty ounces on the five. We game was ended. He saw his well-filled purse 

were breathless with fear ; the dealer himself stowed away along with many others within 

paused a little before drawing the cards, — but that Chinese box and, whistling " O Cali- 

at length the deck was faced, and slowly and forny," turned his back upon the scene. The 



A MIXr.K'S SI X DAY IX COI.OMA. 



265 



crowd partc(l symi)athctically to let him 
tlirough; and he strutted out with all the im- 
portance of a noted hero, the eyes of the as- 
tonished and admiring assemblage following 
him to the iloor. 

I |)assed out silently after him and joined 
him in the street. I could scarcely find words 
to express mysympathy for hisloss. He looked 



At tlie next corner I stopped for a few min- 
utes to watch the man<euvers of a tall, slim 
man, who was explaining the mysteries of thim- 
ble-rigging to a crowd of lately arriveti gold 
hunters. He was young, and had a long, high- 
britlged nose, bhie eyes, a llorid complexion, 
and thin flaxen hair, without even the .slight- 
est appearance of a beard upon his chin. I-'rom 




"^ 








- -'♦ .•" -^ ~ --"'-'-1^^-..'5.--*-.;='^ 



r^ tj 



^'■'•^-^■-.w,. 







c^ 






COLUMA I.N 1857. (PHUTOCRAPHED UV E. MMAS, FKOM AN BARLV PICTl'KB./ 



[The site of the Marshall Monument is on the hill Ivick of the town on .t 

down in 1856, is at the extreme hi^ht of 

at me furtively with one eye, without ceasing 
to whistle. I took his arm and, leading him 
around thecomerof the house, begged to know 
the amount of his loss, and if he had any 
money on which to come and go. He did not 
(ease his whistling, but j)lanted himself firmly 
before me and looked up. I took out myj)Urse, 
md oftered him a part ; the whistling instantly 
ceased ; his face swelled out into a broad and 
homely grin. Looking cautiously around for 
fear of being overheard, he whispered : 

" Mum 's the word ; I believe you 're a good 
egg I Vou want to know how much was in 
that l)ag ? Well, I '11 tell you ; just four jjounds 
of duck-shot mixed, — and — nothing more; 
what a swa'rin' and a cussin' when they open 
it!" and the little imp laughed till the tears 
were in his eyes. I, too, tried to laugh, but my 
sympathies were shocked ; and I turned away 
trom that premature scamp and strode off with 
a heavy weight upon my spirits. l>ut I had not 
gone far until the trick was even too much for 
my feelings ; and I laughed long and heartily 
at its audacitv. 



line verticil with the l>rid|;e. The site of Sutter's mill, which was tore 
ttie picture where the race is shown.] 

his language I saw^ that he was Engli.sh — "a 
Sydney chap," no doubt, fresh from the gal- 
leys ; there were thousantls like him in the coun- 
try. He was standing with his left foot upon 
a low box, so as to make a table of his thigh, 
on which were three small wooden thimbles 
and a little jjellet of paj)er, with the move- 
ments of which he completely my.stitied his au- 
dience. With what dexterity he moved the 
little joker from cup to cuj)l and yet so slowly 
that ever)- one couKl see it in its pas.sage. Now 
you would be willing to swear it was safely 
ensconced under the farthest thimble, for you 
saw it distinctly when the cup was rai.sed ; but 
you might as w ell give up your money at once 
a.s to stake it on the movements of the little 
joker, who was the very genius of the thimble ; 
even, like him of .Aladdin's lamji, becoming 
visible or invisible as its owner w ille<l. In vain 
did he invite a bet ; no one was bold enough 
to risk six ounces. Then the thimble- rigger 
changetl his tactics ; he saw there were many 
willing and anxious to bet, were they but half 
assured there was no hidden trickerv in this 



266 A MINER'S SUNDAY IN COIOMA. 

manual dexterity. His movements, therefore, noise of the tortured fiddles. The saloon was 
became slow and careless, as though he sup- filled with a mass of men, laughing, talking, 
posed there was no one there disposed to risk gambling, drinking, and all apparently in the 
his money on the game. He was so absent- best of humor. It was no use trying for admit- 
minded as to turn his head away, as though tance, so I stepped down to the next house, 
looking for some one beyond the crowd, but where there was another large assemblage fill- 
still moving his thimbles and the joker so ing up half the street and intently watching 
carelessly that the little pellet was at last left something that was happening in the midst 
outside of one of the cups, when it should have of them. 

been totally concealed within. The gambler's Edging my way with a good deal of difli- 
mind was evidently not on his game, or he culty, I at last saw a long, slab-sided, sleepy- 
never would have made this mistake, which looking Yankee, who Avas expatiating on the 
might be taken advantage of by some of his wonders of a small brass padlock, which he 
sharp-sighted auditors. A black-eyed little fel- held up to the admiration of the crowd, de- 
low had been intently watching him for some daring it to be " the wonder of the world," 
time past. He had the dress and appearance " the very essence of mechanical ingenuity," 
of a miner, but his hands were soft and deli- and " a thing that puzzles the scientific, con- 
cate — a fact you noted as, taking advantage siderable." And, as a voucher for the truth of 
of the thimble-rigger's carelessness, he cau- his statement, he was willing and ready to 
tiously reached forward, and very dexterously wager any amount from ten ounces to a hun- 
swept the joker from the gambler's thigh, with- dred that no man in the crowd could open it 
out the latter being aware of his conduct, within the space of two minutes. 
This trick created a marked sensation among The crowd was agape with wonder; the lock 
the bystanders ; so much so, that the English- was passed from hand to hand ; it was twisted, 
man's attention was recalled to his game. turned, and tried in a hundred different ways. 

There was now an evident willingness to but all to no purpose, — it withstood the most 

bet on the part of three or four of the lookers- rigid scrutiny. Some were willing to give it up 

on, but a swarthy miner, with his face covered in despair ; but there were others whom the 

with an immense black beaid, got the start of very difficulty of the undertaking impelled to 

all the rest and, trembling with excitement, still greater exertions. At last it fell into the 

exclaimed : hands of a rough, hairy, raw-boned fellow with 

" I '11 bet you ten ounces the 's no ball under the mouth and jaw of a bulldog, every fea- 

thar at all." ture of whose countenance showed an inflexi- 

" Put down your dust," replied the gambler, bility of purpose to overcome every obstacle. 

The miner drew a well-filled buckskin bag whether for evil or for good. He twisted and 

from his pocket, but, before he staked his turned the miniature lock into every conceiv- 

money, had the foresight to declare that the able position, searching for the hidden spring, 

gambler must not touch the thimbles, that he At last he found it. He was astounded at his 

himself must have the privilege of lifting the own success. He gave a furtive look at the 

cups. The Englishman assented to this. With- owner, to see if he had been observed ; but the 

out the least hesitation the miner put down his Yankee was absorbed in conversation with a 

dust. We all circled closer, laughing within neighbor, to whom he was narrating the his- 

ourselves at the evident discomfiture of the tory of the wonderful lock, and did not even 

careless gambler. The miner raised the near- appear to know that this bulldog fellow had 

est thimble, the ball was not there ; he lifted it in his possession. The latter, now satisfied 

the second, it was not there ; he laid his fingers with his success, gave his neighbor, a thick- 

on the third and last and, with a triumphant headed German, a nudge with his elbow. The 

laugh at his evident good luck, lifted it like- two withdrew somewhat from the crowd, and 

wise. But his laugh was siiddenly changed to there, in a measure secure from observation, 

a short, quick, smothered cry of astonishment, he showed his companion the hidden spring. 

We all looked down ; and there, lying as and advised him to bet twenty ounces on the 

cozy as an egg in its nest, was the wonderful result, and agreed to "go his halves." The 

little joker ! German eagerly accepted the proposition ; and 

The miner had been completely fooled, the two reentered the ring with the triumph 

There had been two little paper pellets, and of discovery in their faces. The German laid 

the dark-eyed man was a confederate. down his bag, and on the top of it the Yankee 

Leaving the thimble-rigger, I passed along piled his twenty Spanish doubloons. The gam- 
under the colonnade of the hotel, my ears al- bier drew out his watch to note the time ; and 
most deafened by the rattling of money and handing the wizard lock to his opponent, told 
the hubbub of various dialects ; and, piercing him to begin, 
all, like the shrieking of termagants, came the The German took the lock, and with a smile 



./ .\//.\/:/rs SI X/KI)- /.V COI.O.\f.\. 



h<-> 




A SIINUAV AKTERNOO.S .-.i..i,i. 



of derision put his finger on the spring ; and 
lo ! the lock was still a loik. Perhaps he mis- 
took the knob whereon to jjress ; but no I that 
was the boss that but a moment since unhaspeil 
tile lock. He pressed it again with a firmer 
hand ; but it was of no use, the clasp was still 
unclasped. The (ierman felt dimly that he had 
been victimized ; the two minutes were ra])idly 
I>assing away ; large <lropsof perspiration oo;^ed 
from his forehead, — his hands trembled with 
excitement. — every knob on the brazen puzzle 
was convulsively pressed, — but all in vain. 
The time was up — and his money lost! 
With a pitiable countenance he turned to his 
jjartner in misfortune, but he had gone! ni> 
spirit sank within him. He must bear the lo.ss 
himself! His missing j)artner was of course a 
confederate of the Yankee's, and before the 
money was staked had (piietly neutralized the 
spring upon which the (lerman had so confi- 
dently relied. 

Hy this time myap])etite began to warn me 
of the near approach of noon. There were any 
number of eating-houses and booths, but which 
to choose I could not tell. However, suftering 
myself to be guided in a measure by the crowd 
which was now streaming to the other side of 
the river, I soon found myself in front of " Lit- 
tle's Hotel," the largest frame building on the 
right bank of the river, serving in the treble 
capacity of post-office, store, and tavern. Here 
I found all my a(<|uaintances, who, like me. 
were on the search for a good dinner ; and who 



had been induced to go there by the enc o- 
miums of "okler hands," who every .Sunday had 
made a custom of visiting Coloma for the ex- 
press j)urpose C)f having one good dinner in the 
week. The first sounding of the gong had 
already bnnight a hungry crowd, apparently 
large enough lo carry away the whole build- 
ing. They were assembled in front of the closed 
door of the long dining-room, anxiously await- 
ing the second signal, when they were to be 
admitted. 

While awaiting the oi)ening of the door, my 
attention was directed lo a diminutive, middle- 
aged Irishman, who was busily engaged nar- 
rating to a (i)mpanion the various wonders 
and mysteries that " complalely botheretl him 
in this womlthcr of a j)lace." After many fa- 
mous adventures he had found himself on the 
bank of the river, hunting for a '• (|uit ksilver 
masheen," when the gong sounded for dinner; 
and he thus ( t)ntinued his narrative : 

" .\n'do ye see, Dinnis, I jist went down be 
the wather to indivor to git a sight of a «|uick- 
silver masheen ; for I niver seen the loike in 
this ( ounthry yit ; an' I had a great inclination 
to luck at one, ef it was oney to see the shape 
ov it, but I dill n't .see ony thing like the (juick- 
silver ma.sheen at all, at all ; but a man that 
was there prosi)e« tin' tould me for to come up 
to the tavern, an' there wos wun there siltin' 
out ov doors jist fominst the house. Ji.st thin 
I heerda clatherin'asovthat big mounthin wos 
tumblen down on us. I didn't know themanen' 



!68 



A MINER'S SUNDAY IN COLOMA. 



ov it far a long time ; wliin it sthruck me right 
strate — it wos nothin' but the quicksilver ma- 
sheen. So I hurried up the bank, an' thin I 
saw evry wan runnin' up this way, as ef it wos 
a rale Irish foight they were goin' to see, an' 
not the quicksilver masheen at all. Whin I 
sees thim all runnin' like pigs afther pratee 
skins — stir your stumps, Condy, says I, or 
you '11 niver git near the baste. An' thin, I 
run loike the rist ov thim ; an' whin I got to 
where the noise come from, — what do you 
think I seen, Dinnis ? Why, nothin' but a 
big nagur batin' the tamboreen!" 

We had scarcely time enough to laugh at 
Condy's disappointment in search of the 



ners. At home, one would associate such a 
crowd with the deck of a Mississippi steam- 
boat, or the platform of an Alleghany River 
raft, with iron forks and spoons, and tin plates 
spread on a rough pine board for a table ; but 
here they lorded it over every luxury that 
money could procure. There was not a single 
coat in the whole crowd, and certainly not 
over half a dozen vests, and neither neckties 
nor collars. But then, to make amends for 
these deficiencies, there were any number and 
variety of fancy shirts, from the walnut-stained 
homespun of the Missourian to the embroi- 
dered blouse of the sallow Frenchman. Never 
before was I so fully impressed with the truth 




Kill t,H> IN TOWN. 



K.. hKo.M A SKETCH BY IIUUIiKT UUKGliSb ol A:. lNi_lDl^.\ 1' I.\ I'HE MINES.) 



" quicksilver masheen " when the " tamborine" 
again sounded ; the door flew open, and in a 
few minutes the long, narrow, dining-room was 
crowded with at least three hundred miners, 
seated at a well-furnished table and enjoying 
the unusual luxury of a chair to sit on, with 
silver-plated forks and spoons, and other little 
knickknacks of civilized society. The dinner 
was really excellent, and every one appeared 
heartily to enjoy it. 

When the edge of my appetite had in a 
measure been ground away, I took occasion 
to look up and down the table, and I could 
but wonder how I happened among such a 
collection of uncouth men. The contrast was 
certainly startling between the snow-white 
tablecloth, china dishes, silver forks and 
spoons, and the unwashed, half-famished, 
sunburnt crowd of hungry and bearded mi- 



of the old adage that " dress makes the man," 
for I doubt if the whole world could present 
to a stranger's eye a crowd of rougher or ap- 
parently lower characters than were then seated 
around that hospitable table. And yet many 
of these men were lawyers and physicians, and 
the rest principally farmers and mechanics from 
the " States " ; who now with their long beards 
and fierce mustaches looked anything else 
than the quiet citizens they were at home. Men 
who formerly were effeminacy itself in dress 
and manners were here changed into rough 
and swaggering braves, with a carelessness of 
appearance and language that a semi-civilized 
condition of society alone could permit. 

Men pocketed their pride in Califoi-nia in 
those days. I met in the mines lawyers and 
physicians, of good standing at home, who 
were acting as barkeepers, waiters, hostlers, 



CAJ.IIORXIAXA. 



269 



and teamsters. An ex-judge of oyer and ter- the determinaticjn to make money; and if the 

miner was drivinj^ an o\-teani from Coloma mines (hil not afford it, tlie next incjuiry was 

to Sacramento. One man who had been a what pursuit or business would the sooner 

State senator and secretary of state in one accomphsh the desiretl end. Thousands who 

of our western commonwealths was doing had not the necessary stamina for the vicissi- 

a protitahle business at manufacturing "era- tudes of a miner's hfe, nor yet the means of 

dies," while an ex-governor of one of our going into any of the various channels of trade, 

southwestern States played the fiddle in a were for a time compelled to serve in capacities 

gambling saloon. I'iiese things were hardly far beneath their deserts, until time and means 

remarked. Every one went to the Slope with should justify them in choosing for themselves. 



V 




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^"Qk 



'^m^' 




11 '¥ 




Cluitles li. (iillespif. 



' BROKE. 



CALIFORNIANA. 



ANECDOTES OF THE MINES. 

BY lUBF.RT BURGESS. 
One Way of Salting a Claim. 

To " salt .1 claim " is to sprinkle yokl <lusl about it in 
certain places in order to deceive those who may be 
seeking investment. In this way in the early days of 
California worthless claims were made to appear rich, 
and WLMC often sold for large sums of money. In the 
course of time this jiractice became so common that 
purch.asers were always on their guard, and it was 
necessary to exercise much insijcnuity in order to de- 
ceive them. I know of one instance where solid earth 
was removed to the depth of six feet and, after coarse 
gold had been mixed with it, was replaced and covered 
with rubbish in such a way as to look firm and natural. 
Soon after, a party came along who wished to buy, 
and judging from appearances they selected the very 
place for prospecting which had Iwcn salted for them, 
deenung it less likely to have l)een tampered with than 
the rest of the claim. Of course they thought they 
had " struck it rich," but they realized only the salt. 
Sometimes claims were pronounced worthless before 
sufficient work ha<l been di>ne on them. When these 
were salted antl sold to persevering miners they fre- 
quently netted large fortunes to those who had unwit- 
tingly purchased them. 

In 1851 a party of .\mcrican miners had been working 
a claim near Columbia, Tuolumne County, California, 
and not having even found the " color " they became 
discourage<l ; the more so as a company of Chinamen 
a short distance above them were <loing very well. 
The .\mericans having expressetl a willingness to sell, 
one day three Chinamen went to look at the claim. 
They talked it over among thems(•lvl■^ am! tumllv aslrd 
Vol. XI.II. — 35. 



the owners at what price they would sell. Of course 
the Americans made it out rich and put a high figure 
on it, though in fact they were resolved to sell out at 
any price, being sure that the ground was worthless. 
It was decided that the Chinamen should bring their 
picks and pans next day to prospect, and if they were 
satisfied they would buy at the figure agreed ujwn. 

The miners, tliinking it would probably l)e their last 
ch.ancc to sell, determined to salt the claim. It was 
a large piece nf ground and the trouble w.is where to 
put the " salt." One of the men soon hit upon a very 
ingenious plan. He took his gun and went, as he said, 
to get a quail or two, but in reality to kill a snake. .As 
there were a great many about the place, he soon killed 
a large gopher-snake, which resembles the rattlesnake 
in appearance but is perfectly harmless to man. Tut 
ting his game into a bag, he returned to camp. 

On being asked by his conipanions what he had 
brought back for supper, he shook out the snake and 
explained his idea thus : 

" Now, boys, when the Chinamen come to-morrow, 
they won't allow any of us to Ixr too near, because 
tliey 're afraid of ' s,ilt.' Well, Jim, you walk along 
on top of the bank and have that dead snake in 
your pocket. Hill and me will stay talking to the 
Johns, I Ml have my gun over my shoulder as if I was 
going for a rabbit, only you see I 'II put ' salt' into the 
gun instead of shot. Wc '11 fimi out where they 're go- 
ing to pan out next, and you be looking on, innocent 
like, with the snake ready to drop where I tell you. 
When them fellers ^tart to w.ilk there, just slide him 
down the bank, an<l when we all get there, I 'II holler 
• Hold on, boys ! * and before they know what 's up, I Ml 
fire the ' salt ' .all annind there and make believe I 
ki11.-.l the snake. How Ml that do?" 



270 



CALIFORNIANA. 



Next morning four Chinamen came prepared for 
work. They tried a few places, but of course did not 
get the "color." The Americans kept at a distance 
so that there could be no complaint. 

" Well, John, " said the schemer, " where you try next, 
over in that corner ? " 

The Chinamen were suspicious in a moment. They 
were familiar with salted claims and were well on their 
guard. " No likee dis corn'. The him nudder corn','' 
pointing to the opposite one. 

Jim, with his hands in his pockets, was above on the 
bank, many feet away, watching ; when he saw them 
point in that direction, his partner gave a nod and he 
pitched the snake on the ground near the place. The 
leader exclaimed, " Hold on boys ! " and fired before 
they could tell which way to look. Going up to the 
snake, he pushed the gun under it and carried it away 
hanging over the barrel. Jim walked off and Bill sat 
on a wheelbarrow on the opposite side from where they 
were at work. The Chinamen had no suspicion. They 
carried away several pans of dirt to wash in a stream near 
by, and when they returned Bill felt pretty sure they 
had struck some of the " salt," but the Chinamen said 
nothing except, "Claim no good. Melikin man talkee 
too muchee." 

The Americans, knowing the game, refused to take 
less than the specified price, which the Chinamen finally 
paid and in two days the sellers were off to new dig- 
gings- 

The strangest part of the story is that the claim turned 
out to be one of the richest in the district. The China- 
men made a great deal of money, sold out and went 
home. 

" Hold on boys, till I make this shot." 

In 185 1 Mokelumne Hill was one of the worst camps 
in California. " Who was shot last week ? " was the 
first question asked by the miners when they came in 
from the river or surrounding diggings on Saturday 
nights or Sundays to gamble or get supplies. It was 
very seldom that the answer was " No one." 

Men made desperate by drink or losses at the gam- 
bling table, would race up and down the thoroughfares, 
in single file, as boys play the game of "follow my 
leader," each imitating the actions of the foremost. 
Selecting some particular letter in a sign they would 
fire in turn, regardless of everything but the accuracy 
of the aim. Then they would quarrel over it as though 
they were boys, playing a game of marbles, while 
every shot was likely to kill or wound some unfor- 
tunate person. 

The gambling tents were large and contained not only 
gaming tables but billiard tables. At one of these I was 

once playing billiards with a man named H . A few 

feet from us, raised upon a platform made for the pur- 
pose, were seated three Mexican musicians, playing 
guitars; for these places were always well supplied 
with instrumental music. The evening seldom passed 
without disputes, and pistols were quickly drawn to set- 
tle quarrels. Upon any outbreak men would rush from 
all parts of the room, struggling to get as near as pos- 
sible to the scene of action, and often they paid the pen- 



alty for their curiosity by being accidentally shot. While 

H and I were engaged in our game, we could hear 

the monotonous appeal of the dealers, " Make your 
game, gentlemen, make your game. Red wins and black 
loses." Suddenly ha7ig, bang, bang went the pistols in 
a distant part of the tent. The usual rush followed. 
Bang, bang, again, and this time the guitar dropped 
from the hands of one of the unoffending musicians, who 
fell forward to the ground with a bullet through his 
neck. His friends promptly undertook to carry him 
past us to the open air. Our table was so near the 
side of the tent that only one person at a time could go 

between it and the canvas. H was standing in 

the way, just in the act of striking the ball with his 
cue, when one of the persons carrying the wounded 
mail touched him with the request that he move to one 
side. He turned and saw the Mexican being supported 
by the legs and arms, the blood flowing from his neck ; 
then with the coolest indifference he said, " Hold on, 
hold on, boys, till I make this shot," then, resuming 
his former position, he deliberately finished his shot. 

These events occurred so constantly that residents 
of the place became callous, and although at the sound 
of the pistol crowds rushed forward, it was with no 
deeper feeling than curiosity. 

Sometimes in the newer communities property as 
\\ ell as life was in danger. I remember that one night 
in West Point, Calaveras County, a party of roughs 
"cleaned out" the leading saloon because the pro- 
prietor would not furnish them free whisky. 

A little later law and order began to assert their 
claims in the community. Several families from the 
East came in, and a protest was made against the sway 
of the gamblers. The result was that the card business 
did not pay so well ; miners grew more careful of their 
money, and the professional " sports " left the place in 
great numbers. One of them as he packed up his chips 
remarked : " They 're getting too partickler. If a feller 
pulls his pistol in self-defense and happens to blow the 
top of a miner's head off, tliey haul him up before a 
jury. The good old times are about over here, and the 
country 's played out ! " 

"The Date of the Discovery of the Yosemite." 

Editor of the Century Magazine : My com- 
munication in the December number of The Century 
on " The Date of the Discovery of the Yosemite " has 
brought to me several letters, including one from a 
writer from California who quotes a statement made by 
George Coulter, the founder of Coultersville, corrobo- 
rating in detail the circumstances as narrated in my 
communication, excej>i in the one essential particular. 
He is quoted as saying that the party I met at his store 
did not go so far into the mountains as the Yosemite, 
but made their attack upon the Indians in a canon on 
the north fork of the Merced belcnv the Yosemite. I 
accept his statement, as reported, and am pleased to 
withdraw all contention of the claim made by Doctor 
Bunnell that he was the original discoverer. 



MoNTCLAiR, March 27, 1891. 



Julius H. Pratt. 



Ii ii: Ci:NTrKY Maga/ixi:. 



\mi. xli. 



DKCEMDKR, 1890. 



Nf 



). 2. 



LIFE IN 



^\ 



t>' ^ 




•inrtR'S BOOT. flM THt 

PIONCCR SOCIETY'S ROOUS, SACRAUCnTO. 



CALIFORNIA BEFORE THE GOLD 
DISCOVERY. 

I'.V JOHN P.IDWKLI, (PIONKKR OK '41). 

"I'^f ''I^III'l party whose fortunes I day reading, and he had a memory that 

I 1 have followed across the stereotyped all he read, and in those days in 

plains 1 was not only the first California such a man could easily assume 

that went direct to California the role of doctor and practise medicine. In 

from the Enst; we were prob- fact, with the exception of Dr. Marsh there 

ably the first white people, c\- was then no physician of any kind anywhere 

cei)t Bonneville's par- in California, We were overjoyed to find an 

-.. ^,. - ty of 1833, that ever American, and yet when we became acquainted 

-1 crossed the Sierra with himwefound him oneofthemostselfishof 

Nevada, Ur, Marsh's mortals. The night of our arrival he killed two 

ranch, the first settle- pigs for us.-' We felt very grateful, for we had 

ment reached by us by no means recovered from star\ing on poor 

in California, was lo- mule meat, and when he .set his Indian cook 

cated in the ea.stern foothills of the Coast Range to making tortillas (little cakes) for us, giving 

Mountains,near the northwestern extremity of one to each, — there were thirty-two in our 

thegreatSanJoa(|uin Valleyandaboutsixmiles party, — we felt even more grateful; and es- 

east of Monte Diablo, which may be called pecially when we learned that he had had to 

about the geographical center of Contra Costa use some of his .seed wheat, for he had no 

County, I'here were no other settlements in the other. Hearing that there was no such thing 

vallcv ; it was, apjiarently, still just as new as as money in the country, and that butcher- 

whenColumbusdiscovered America. androam- knives, guns, ammunition, anil everything of 

ing over it were countless thousands of wiM that kind were better than money, we expre.s-sed 

horses, of elk, and of antelope. It had been one our gratitude the first night to the doctor by 

of the driest yearsever known in California, The presents — one giving a can of powder, an- 

countrywasbrownandpan hed;throughoutthe other a bar of lead or a butcher-knife, and 

State wheat, beans, everything had failed, CatUe another a cheap but ser\iceable set of surgical 

were almost starving for grass, and the peoi)le, instruments. The next morning I rose early, 

except perhaps a few of the best fiimilies, were among the first, in order to learn from our 

without bread, and were eating chiefly meat, host something about California, — what we 

and that often of a very poor iiuality. coulddo,an(l wherewecouldgo, — and. strange 

Dr. Marsh had come into California four or as it may seem, he would scarcely answer a 

five years before by way of New Mexico. He question. He seemed to be in an ill humor, 

was in some respects a remarkable man. In and among other things he .said, "The com- 

command of the Kngli.'sh language I have pany has already been over a hundred dollars' 

scarcely ever seen his etjual. He had never expen.se to me, anddod knows whether 1 will 

studiefi medicine. I believe, but was a great ever get a rrr// of it or not," I was at a loss to 

reader: sometimes he would lie in bed all account for this, and went out and told some of 

1 Sec " The First Emigrant Train tu (.'aliforni.n,"' in - Men reiJuccd lo living on jxwr meat, and almost 

i'HK Ck.ntcrv for November, 1890. starving, have an intense longing for anything fat. 
Copyright, 1890, by TiiK Centirv Co. .Ml rights reservetl. 

.63 



1 64 LIFE IN CALIFORNIA BEFORE THE GOLD DISCOVERY. 



the party, and found that others had been 
snubbed in a similar manner. We held a con- 
sultation and resolved to leave as soon as con- 
venient. Half our party concluded to go back 
to the San Joaquin River, where there was much 
game, and spend the winter hunting, chiefly for 
otter, the skins being worth three dollars apiece. 
The rest — about fourteen — succeeded in gain- 
ing information from Dr. Marsh by which they 



exposed than any other to the ravages of the 
Horse-thief Indians of the Sierra Nevada 
(before mentioned). That valley was full of 
wild cattle, — thousands of them, — and they 
were more dangerous to one on foot, as I was, 
than grizzly bears. By dodging into the gulches 
and behind trees I made my way to a Mexi- 
can ranch at the extreme west end of the 
valley, where I staid all night. This was one 







nu\i\'^;;-nii, Mil 



SACRAMENTO VALLEY. 



Started to find the town of San Jose, about 
forty miles to the south, then known by the 
name of Pueblo de San Jose, now the city 
of San Jose. More or less of our effects had 
to be left at Marsh's, and I decided to re- 
main and look out for them, and meantime 
to make short excursions about the country 
on my own account. After the others had 
left I started off traveling south, and came to 
what is now called Livermore Valley, then 
known as Livermore's Ranch, belonging to 
Robert Livermore, a native of England. He 
had left a vessel when a mere boy, and had 
married and lived like the native Californians, 
and, like them, was very expert with the lasso. 
Livermore's was the frontier ranch, and more 

1 The rancheros marked and branded their stock dif 
ferently so as to distinguish them. But it was not pos- 
sible to keep them separate. One would often steal 
cattle from the other. Livermore in this way lost cat- 
tle by his neighbor Amador. In fact it was almost a 
daily occurrence — a race to see which could get and 



of the noted ranches, and belonged to a Cali- 
fornian called Don Jose Maria Amador — more 
recently, to a man named Dougherty.i^ Next 
day, seeing nothing to encourage me, I started 
to return to Marsh's ranch. 

On the way, as I came to where two roads, 
or rather paths, converged, I fell in with one 
of the fourteen men, M. C. Nye, who had 
started for San Jose. He seemed considerably 
agitated, and reported that at the Mission of 
San Jose, some fifteen miles this side of the 
town of San Jose, all the men had been arrested 
and put in prison by General Vallejo, Mexican 
commander-in-chief of the military under Gov- 
ernor Alvarado, he alone having been sent 
back to tell Marsh and to have him come forth- 

kill the most of the other's cattle. Cattle in those 
days were often killed for the hides alone. One day a 
man saw Amador kill a fine steer belonging to Liver- 
more. When he reached Livermore's — ten or fifteen 
miles away — and told him what Amador had done, 
he found Livermore skinning a steer of Amador's ! 



LfFE I.V CAIJ/'ORMA JiEFORI. 77//- (,()/./) 7)7SCO\E7< Y. 



16: 



with lo explain why this armed 
force hafl invaded the country. We 
reached Marsh's after dark. 'I'he 
next day the doctor started down 
to tlie .Mission of San Jose, nearly 
thirty miles (Hstant, with a list of 
tlie company, which I gave him. 
He was gone about three days. 
Meanwhile we sent word to the 
men on the San |oa(|uin River to 
let them know what had taken 
|ilace, and they at once returned 
10 the ranch to await results. 
When Marsh came hack he said 
ominously, '* Now, men, I want 
you all to come into the house and 
1 will tell you your fate." We all 
\\ ent in, and he announced, " Vou 
men that have five dollars can 
have passports and remain in the 
country and go where you please." 
ihe fact was he had simply ob- 
tained pas.sports for the asking; 
they had cost him nothing. The 
men who had been arrested at the 
Mi.ssion had been liberated as 
soon as their passports were is- 
sued to them, and they had at once 
proceeded on their way to San 
|(.>e. r.ut five dollars! I don't 
suppose anyone had five dollars; 
nine-tenths of them jjrobabl)- had 
not a cent of money. The names 
were called and each man settled, giving motion to an Indian boy outsideand hebrought 
the amount in something, and if unable to me a handful of beans and a handful of ///<///- 
make it up in money or efiects he would give tcux^ which is used by Mexicans instead of lard, 
his note for the rest. All the names were called It seemed as if they were going to starve me 
excej)! mv own. There was no pass|)ort for to death. After having been there three days 
me. Marsh had certainly not forgotten me. I saw through the door a man whom, from 
for I had furnished him with the list of our his light hair, I took to be an American, al- 
names myself. Possil)lyhis idea was — asothers though he was clad in the wild pictures(|ue 
surmised and afterwards told me — that, lack- garb of a native Califomian, including sera|)e 
ing a j)assport. I would stay at his ranch and and the huge spurs used by the va<iuero. I 
make a useful hand to work. had the sentry at the door hail him. He proved 

The next morning before day found me to be an American, a resident of the Pueblo 
starting for the Mission of San Jose to get a of San Jose, named Thomas IJowen. and he 




l.t.M.i.AL .M. w. VAl.l.tJO. 

(FROM A PIlilTCHiRArH BV I1KADI.HV fi RILOFSON, LRMT 

IIY LilYAlX FAKR.VCIT. ) 



passport for myself. Mike Nye, the man who 
liad brought the news of the arrest, went with 



kindly went to Valkjo. who was right across 
the wav in the big Nlission building, and pro- 



me. .\ friend had lent me a poor old horse, cured for me the passport. I think I have that 



ht only to carry my blankets. I arrived in a 
heavy rain-storm, and was marched into the 
calaboose and kept there three days with noth- 
ing to eat, and the fleas were so numerovis as 
to cover and darken anything of a light color. 
There were four or five Indians in the prison. 
Ihey were ironed, ami they kept tolling a bell, 
as a punishment, I suppose, for they were .said 
to have stolen horses; possibly they belonged 
to the Hor^e-thief tribes east of the San Joa- 
quin \alley. Sentries were stationed at the 
tloor. i'hrough a grated window I ma«le a 



passport now, signed Ijy Vallejo and written in 
Sjjanish by \ictor I'rudon, secretary of Val- 
lejo. I ".very one at the Mi.s.sion pronounced 
Marsh's action an outrage; such a thing 
was never known before. 

We had already heard that a man by the 
name of Sutter was starting a colony a hun- 
dred miles away to the north in the Sacra- 
mento \'alley. No other civili/ed settlements 
had been attempted anywhere east of the 
C'oast Range: before Sutter came the Indians 
had reigned supreme. .\s the best thing to be 



1 66 



LIFE IN CALIFORNIA BEFORE THE GOLD DISCOVERY. 



done I now determined to go to Sutter's, after- 
ward called "Sutter's Fort," or New Helvetia. 
Dr. Marsh said we could make the journey in 
two days, but it took us eight. Winter had 
come in earnest, and winter in California then, 
as now, meant rain. I had three companions. 
It was wet when we started, and much of the 
time we traveled through a pouring rain. 
Streams were out of their banks ; gulches were 
swimming ; plains were inundated ; indeed, 
most of the country was overflowed. There 
were no roads, merely paths, trodden only by 
Indians and wild game. We were compelled to 
follow the paths, even when they were under 



Moreover, our coming was not unexpected to 
him. It will be remembered that in the Sierra 
Nevada one of our men named Jimmy John 
became separated from the main party. It 
seems that he came on into California, and, di- 
verging into the north, found his way down to 
Sutter's settlement perhaps a little before we 
reached Dr. Marsh's. Through this man Sut- 
ter heard that our company of thirty men 
were already somewhere in California. He 
immediately loaded two mules with provisions 
taken out of his private stores, and sent two 
men with them in search of us. But they 
did not find us, and returned, with the pro- 



,,4*,inJ^*i A-- 




^.-il" 5»' 



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If J I 



ff -ft"^ 



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)> 






I 



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^-'iT^''-. _ ,:^''^_ 




J.'- .i^ -i^- -V , v'(»«H, ' "^^ 



OLD RUSSIAN BUILDING. 



I'ORT KOSS. 



water, for the moment our animals stepped to 
one side down they went into the mire. Most 
of the way was through the region now lying 
between Lathrop and Sacramento. We got 
out of provisions and were about three days 
without food. Game was plentiful, but hard 
to shoot in the rain. Besides, it was impos- 
sible to keep our old flint-lock guns dry, and 
especially the powder dry in the pans. On 
the eighth day we came to Sutter's settle- 
ment; the fort had not then been begun. 
Sutter received us with open arms and in a 
princely fashion, for he was a man of the most 
polite address and the most courteous man- 
ners, a man who could shine in any society. 



visions, to Sutter's. Later, after a long search, 
the same two men, having been sent out again 
by Sutter, struck our trail and followed it to 
Marsh's. 

John A. Sutter was born in Baden in 1803 of 
Swiss parents, and was proud of his connection 
with the only republic of consequence in Europe. 
He was a warm admirer of the United States, 
and some of his fnends had persuaded him to 
come across the Atlantic. He first went to a 
friend in Indiana with whom he staid awhile, 
helping to clear land, but it was business that 
he was not accustomed to. So he made his way 
to St. Louis and invested what means he had 
in merchandise, and went out as a New Mexi- 



IJFE IX CAl.II'ORXfA liEFORE Till: GOI.P DISCOIERV 




C.KNHRAI. JOHN A. SITTER. 
IFkOM A riKlTni.KAril IIV IIKM>II'\ a KI lOFSIlS't 



can trader to Santa Fe. Havint; been unsuc- 
cessful at Santa Kc, he returned to St. Louis, 
joined a party of trappers, went to the Rocky 
Mountains, and found his way down the Co- 
hinil)ia River to Fort Vancouver. There he 
formed plans for trying to get down to the 
coast of California to establish a colony. He 
took a vessel that went to the Sandwich Isl- 
ands, and there communicated his jjlans to 
j)eople who a.ssisted him. Hut as there was no 
vessel going direct from the San<hvich Islands 
to California, he had to take a Russian vessel 
by way of Sitka. He got such credit and help 
as he could in the Sandwich Islands and in- 
duced five or six natives to accompany him 



to start the contemplated colony. He expected 
to send to luirope and the I'nited States for 
his colonists. When he came to the coast of 
California, in 1840, he had an interview with 
the governor. .Mvarado. and obtained per- 
mission to explore the country and find a place 
for his colony. He came to the bay of San 
Francisco, j^rocured a small boat and exjilored 
the largest river he could find, and selected the 
site w here the city of Sacramento now stands. 
.V short time l)efore we arrived Sutter had 
bought out the Russian-.Ainerican Fur Com- 
iKiny at Fort Ri>ss and Bodega on the Pacific. 
That comjiany had a charter from Spain to 
take furs, but had no right to the land. The 



1 68 



LIFE IN CALIFORNIA BEFORE THE GOLD DISCOVERY. 




Sutter's fort, (redrawn from a photograi'h of an old print.) 



charter had about expired. Against the pro- 
test of the Cahfornia authorities they had ex- 
tended their settlement southward some twenty 
miles farther than they had any right to, and had 
occupied the country to, and even beyond, the, 
bay of Bodega. The time came when the tak- 
ing of furs was no longer profitable ; the Rus- 
sians were ordered to vacate and return to 
Sitka. They wished to sell out all their personal 
property and whatever remaining right they 
had to the land. So Sutter bought them out 
— cattle and horses ; a Httle vessel of about 
twenty-five tons burden, called a launch ; and 
other property, including forty odd pieces of 
old rusty cannon and one or two small brass 
pieces, with a quantity of old French flint-lock 
muskets pronounced by Sutter to be of those 
lost by Bonaparte in 1812 in his disastrous re- 
treat from Moscow. This ordnance Sutter con- 
veyed uj) the Sacramento River on the launch 
to his colony. As soon as the native Cali- 
fornians heard that he had bought out the Rus- 
sians and was beginning to fortify himself by 
taking up the cannon they began to fear him. 
They were doubtless jealous because Americans 
and other foreigners had already commenced 
to make the place their headquarters, and they 
foresaw that Sutter's fort would be for them, 
especially for Americans, what it naturally did 
become in fact, a place of protection and gen- 
eral rendezvous ; and so they threatened to 
break it up. Sutter had not as yet actually re- 
ceived his grant ; he had simply taken prelim- 



inary steps and had obtained permission to 
settle and proceed to colonize. These threats 
were made before he had begun the fort, much 
less built it, and Sutter felt insecure. He had 
a good many Indians whom he had collected 
about him, and a few white men (perhai)s fifteen 
or twenty) and some Sandwich Islanders. 
When he heard of the coming of our thirty men 
he inferred at once that we would soon reach 
him and be an additional protection. With this 
feeling of security, even before the arrival of 
our party Sutter was so indiscreet as to write a 
letter to the governor or to some one in author- 
ity, saying that he wanted to hear no more 
threats of dispossession, for he was now able 
not only to defend himself but to go and 
chastise them. That letter having been de- 
spatched to the city of Mexico, the authorities 
there sent a new governor in 1842 with about 
six hundred troops to subdue Sutter. But the 
new governor, Manuel Miclieltorena, was an 
intelligent man. He knew the history of Cal- 
ifornia and was aware that nearly all of his 
predecessors had been expelled by insur- 
rections of the native Californians. Sutter 
sent a courier to meet the governor before his 
arrival at Los Angeles, with a letter in French, 
conveying his greetings to the governor, ex- 
pressing a most cordial welcome, and submit- 
ting cheerfull}' and entirely to his authorit}-. 
In this way the governor and Sutter became 
fast friends, and through Sutter the Americans 
had a friend in Governor Micheltorena. 



LIFE IN CA LI FOR XI A FFFORF TI/F GOLD DISCOVERY. 



169 



The first employment I had in Cahfornia it took a month to make a trip. The fare for 
was in Sutter's service, about two months after each person was five dollars, including board, 
our arrival at Marsh's. He engaged me to goto Sutter started many f)ther new enteqirises in 
Hodega and l-'ort Ross and to stay there until order to find relief from his embarrassments; 
he (ould finish removing the proj)erty which but, in spite of all he could do, these increased, 
he had bought from the Russians. I remained Kvery year found him worse and worse off; 
there fourteen months, until everything was but it was partly his own fault. Me employed 
removed; then I came uj) into Sacramento men — not because he always needed an<l 
\'alley and took charge for Sutter of his Hock could profitably employ them, but because in 
farm (so named from a large Indian village on the kindness of his heart it simi)ly became a 
the place), remaining there a little more than habit to employ everybody who wanted em- 
a year — in 1843 and part of 1844. ployment. As long as he had anything he 

.Nearly everybody who came to California trusted any one with everything he wanted — 
made it a point to reach Sutter's Kort.' Sutter responsible or otherwise, accjuaintances and 
was one of the most liberal and hospitable strangers alike. Most of the labor was done 
of men. Kverybody was welcome — one man by Indians, chiefly wild ones, except a few 
or a hundred, it was all the same. He had from the Missions who spoke Spanish. The 
peculiar traits: his necessities compelled him wild ones learned Spanish so far as they learned 
to take all he could buy, 

and he i)aid all he could 1 

pay ; but he fiiiled to keep 
up with his payments. .\nd 
so he soon found himself 
immensely — almost hope- 
lessly — invulveil in debt. 
His (lebt to the Russians 
amounted at first to some- 
thing near one hundred 
thousand dollars. Interest 
increased apace. He had 
agreed to pay in wheat, 
but his crops failed. He 
struggled in every way, 
sowing large areas to wheat, 
increasing his cattle and 
horses, and trying to build 
a flouring mill. He Vc\)i 
his launch running to and 
from the l)ay,carr}'ing down 
hides, tallow, furs, wheat, 
etc., returning with lumber 
.sawed by hand in the redwood groves nearest anything, that being the language of the 
the bay and other supplies. On an average country, and everybody had to learn some- 




( 



if 



'i3|B»aMKMB«^ 



2 : •' 



f-' 



Y 



^•v 



-V^:- 



.Ji- 



SITTEK S KORT AS IT IS NOW. 
(KKDRAWN FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BV H. S 



REAI S.) 



1 Kvcry year after the arrival of our p.Trly, in 
1S41, immigrant parties came across the plains to 
California; except in 1842, wlien they went to Ore- 
gon, most of tliem coming tlience to California in 
1843. Ours of 1841 heinc the fir-it, let me add liiat a 
later party arrived in California in 1841. It was com- 
IKJsea of about twenty-five persons who arrived at 
Wcstport, Mo., too late to come with us, and so went 
with the annual caravan of St. Louis traders to Santa 
Fe, .nnd thence t'/V/ the Gila River into Southern Cali- 
fornia. 

.Viiion^ the more note<l arrivals on this coast I may 
nicnlinn : 

1S41. — Commo<lore Wilkes's Exploring Expedition, 
a party of which came overland from Oregon to t'ali- 
fornin, under Captain Ringi;old. I think. 

1S42. — ( omnvKlore Thomas ap Catesby Jones, who 
raised the .\merican flag in Monterey. 

1843. — /'irst. I.. W. Hastings, via Oregon. He 
was ambitious to make t alifornia a republic and to Ik: 
its first president, and wrote an iriclescent book to 
Vou XI. I. — 23. 



induce immigration, — wiiich came in 1846, — but 
found the .\merican flag flying when he returned with 
tlic immigration he liad gone to meet. .Also among 
the noted arrivals in 1S43 was Pierson 15. Reading, an 
accomplishe<l gentltm.in, the projjrielor of Reading's 
ranch in Shasta County, and Irom whom Fort Read- 
ing took iis name. Samuel J. Hensley was also one 
of the same party. Second. Dr. Sandcls, a very in- 
telligent man. 

1S44. — First. Frdmont's first arrival (in March); 
Mr. Charles rreiis-,a scientific man, and Kit Carson 
with him. .Sftond. The Stevens- lownsend- Murphy 
|iarty, who brougiit the first wagons into California 
across the plains. 

1845. — First. James \V. Marshall, who, in 1848, dis- 
covered the gold. Sffond. Fremont's second arrival, 
also I last I ■ ' val. 

1846.— ion party, the one Hastings 

went to nicci. 1 iic I'oiiiicr party was among the la.st 
of these immigrants. 



I70 LIFE IN CALIFORNIA BEFORE THE GOLD DISCOVERY. 



thing of it. The number of men employed by 
Sutter may be stated at from loo to 500 — 
the latter number at harvest time. Among them 
were blacksmiths, carpenters, tanners, gun- 
smiths, vaqueros, farmers, gardeners, weavers 
(to weave coarse woolen blankets), hunters. 



corral ; then three or four hundred wild horses 
were turned in to thresh it, the Indians whoop- 
ing to make them run faster. Suddenly they 
would dash in before the band at full speed, 
when the motion became reversed, with the 
effect of plowing up the trampled straw to the 




TKiiif i^li, J ^ m I ^ i^Tr /J 



A CALIFORNIA CART. 



sawyers (to saw lumber by hand, a custom 
known in England), sheep-herders, trappers, 
and, later, millwrights and a distiller. In a 
word, Sutter started every business and enter- 
prise possible. He tried to maintain a sort of 
military discipline. Cannon were mounted, and 
pointed in every direction through embrasures 
in the walls and bastions. The soldiers were 
Indians, and every evening after coming from 
work they were drilled under a white officer, 
generally a German, marching to the music 
of fife and drum. A sentry was always at the 
gate, and regular bells called men to and from 
work. 

Harvesting, with the rude implements, was 
a scene. Imagine three or four hundred wild 
Indians in a grain field, armed, some with 
sickles, some with butcher-knives, some with 
pieces of hoop iron roughly fashioned into 
shapes like sickles, but many having only their 
hands with which to gather by small handfuls 
the dry and brittle grain ; and as their hands 
would soon become sore, they resorted to dry 
willow sticks, which were split to afford a 
sharper edge with which to sever the straw. 
But the wildest part was the threshing. The 
harvest of weeks, sometimes of a month, was 
piled up in the straw in the form of a huge 
mound in the middle of a high, strong, round 



very bottom. In an hour the grain would be 
thoroughly threshed and the dry straw broken 
almost into chaff. In this manner I have seen 
two thousand bushels of wheat threshed in 
a single hour. Next came the winnowing, 
which would often take another month. It 
could only be done when the wind was blow- 
ing, by throwing high into the air shovelfuls 
of grain, straw, and chaff, the lighter materials 
being wafted to one side, while the grain, com- 
paratively clean, would descend and form a 
heap by itself In this manner all the grain 
in California was cleaned. At that day no 
such thing as a fanning mill had ever been 
brought to this coast. 

The kindness and hospitality of the native 
Californians have not been overstated. Up to 
the time the Mexican regime ceased in Cali- 
fornia they had a custom of never charging 
for anything ; that is to say, for entertainment 

— food, use of horses, etc. You were sup- 
posed, even if invited to visit a friend, to 
bring your blankets with you, and one would 
be very thoughtless if he traveled and did not 
take a knife with him to cut his meat. When 
you had eaten, the invariable custom was to 
rise, deliver to the woman or hostess the plate 
on which you had eaten the meat and beans 

— for that was about all they had — and say, 



T 



nr.roRF rrrr. corn discovrry. 



'7' 



rounlry, it prevailed in 
the towns too. There 
was not a hotel in San 
Francisco, or Monte- 
rey, or anywliere in 
Cahfomia, till 1846, 
when the Americans 
took the country. The 
priests at the Missions 
were glad to enter- 
tain strangers without 
charge. 'I'hey would 
give you a room in 
which to sleei),and j>er- 
haj)S a bedstead with a 
hide stretched across it, 
and over that you would 
spread your blankets. 

At this time there was 
not in California any 
vehic le except a rude 
Calitbrnia cart ; the 
wheels were without 
tires, and were made by 
felling an oak tree and 
hewing it down till it 
made a solid wheel 
nearly a foot thick on 
the rim and a little 
larger where the axle 
went through. The 
hole for the axle would 
be eight or nine inches 
in diameter, but a few 
years' use would in- 
crease it to a foot. To 
make the hole, an 
auger, gouge, or chisel 
was sometimes used, 
but the principal tool 
was an ax. A small tree 
reijuircd but little hew- 
■ Muc/uis f^racias, Senora" ("Man) thanks, ing and shaping to answer for an axle. These 
niadame"); and the hostess as invariably re- carts were always drawn by oxen, the yoke 
{>lied. "■ Bucti prmu-cho" ("May it do you being lashed with rawhide to the horns. To 
much good " ). The Missions in California in- lubricate the axles they used soap (that is one 
variably had gartlens with grapes, olives, figs, thing the Mexicanscouldmake),carryingalong 
pomegranates, pears, and apples, but the for the purpose a big pail of thick .soapsuds 




ranches scarcely ever had any fruit.' When 
you wanted a horse to ride, you would take it 
to the next ranch — it might be twenty, thirty, 
or fifty miles — and turn it out there, and some- 
time or other in reclaiming his stock the 



which was constantly put in the box or hole ; 
but ) ou could generally tell when a California 
cart was coming half a mile away by the 
s(|ueaking. I have seen the families of the 
wealthiest people go long distances at the 



owner would get it back. In this way you rate of thirty miles or more a day, visiting in 

might travel from one end of California to the one of the.se clumsy two-wheeled vehicles, 

other. They had a little framework around it made 

The ranch life was not confined to the of round sticks, and a bullock hide was put m 

for a floor or bottom. Sometimes the better class 

1 With the exception of the tuna, or prickly [Krar. y,^^^\,\ have a little calico for curtains and cover, 

these were the only cultivated fruit.s I can recall to ,,,, i 1 • i 1 1 1 • 

minti in California, except oranges. lemons, and limes, ' 'l^T^' ^^ '''^ "" ^"^ '^ ''""t' ^^ » spokecl wheel m 

in a few places. use then. Somebody sent from Boston a wagon 




lu'iiiiiiiiif;-* 



LIFE IX CAUFORXIA nEFOKF. 77/E (iO/.P DISCOVERY. 



'73 



as a present to the priest in charge of the across the plains with the express purpose of 

Mission of San Jose, but as soon as summer finding gold. When he got into the Rocky 

( ame tlie woodwork shrunk, the tires came Mountains, as I was told by his friend Dr. 

off, and it all fell to pieces. There was no one 'I'ownsend, .Stevens said, "We are in a gold 

in California to set tires. When (lovernor .Mi- country." One evening (when they camped for 

cheltorena was sent from Mexico to California the night) he went into a gulch, took some 




MUNll.Nb A KLMAWAV SAILuK. 



he brought with him an ambulance, not much 
better than a common spring wagon, such as 
a marketman would now use with one horse. 
It had shafts, but in California at that time 
there was no horse broken to work in them, nor 
was there such a thing known as a harness ; so 
the governor had two mounted vaqueros to 
])ull it, their reatas being fastened to the shafts 
and to the pf)mmcls of their saddles. The first 
wagons brought into California came across 
the plains in 1844 with the Townsend or Ste- 
vens i)arty. They were left in the mountains 
and lay buried under the snow till the fol- 
lowing spring, when Moses Schallenberger. 
I'lisha Stevens (who was the captain of the 
party), and others went up and brought some 
of the wagons down into the Sa< ramento Val- 
ley. No other wagons had ever before reached 
California across the plains.' 

I'.lisha Stevens was from (ieorgia and had 
there worked in the gold mines. He started 

' Mr. Sch.illenl>ergcr still lives at San Jose. lie re- 
!iiainc<l ,1 con>ii(lcr.nt>Ic part of the winter alone with 
the wagons, wiiich were buried under thesn<iw. Wlien 
the last twi) men m.ide a desperate cflTorl t<i esca]>c 
over the niountains into California, Schallenberger 
tried to go with them, but was unable to bear the 



gravel and washed it and got the color of gold, 
thus unmistakably showing, as he afterwards 
dill in Lower California, that he had consider- 
able knowledge of gold mining. But the strange 
thing is, that afterwards, w hen he passed up 
and down several times over the country be- 
tween Hear and Vuba rivers, as he did with the 
party in the spring of 1845 to bring down their 
wagons, he should have seen no signs of gold 
where subsequently the whole country was 
found to contain it. 

The early foreign residents of (. alilomia 
were largely runaway sailors. .Many if not 
most would change their names. For instance, 
Gilroy's ranch, w here the town of (iilroy is now- 
located, was owned by an oltl resident under 
the assumeil ajipellation of Gilroy. Of course 
vessels touching upon this coast were liable, 
as they were ever)-w here, to lose men by deser- 
tion, especially if the men were maltreated. 
Such things have been so common that it is 

fatigue, and so returned about fifteen miles to the 

cabin thev h.id left near Ponner I-ake i- after- 

ward callc"l>, where he rem.nincd. i I with 

starvation, till one of the |>arty returned from the Sac- 
ranieiiii) WilUv am! rescued him. 



174 



LIFE IN CALIFORNIA BEFORE THE GOLD DISCOVERY. 



had cause for so doing. To be known as a 
runaway sailor was no stain upon a man's 
character. It was no uncommon thing, after 



-e^ 




not difficult to believe that those who left their my arrival here, for sailors to be skulking and 
vessels in early days on this then distant coast hiding about from ranch to ranch till the 

vessel they had left should leave the coast. 
At Amador's ranch, before mentioned, on my 
first arrival here, I met a sailor boy, named 
Harrison Pierce, of eighteen or twenty years, 
who was concealing himself till his vessel 
should go to sea. He managed to escape re- 
capture and so remained in the country. He 
was one of the men who went with me from 
Marsh's ranch to Sutter's. Californians would 
catch and return sailors to get the reward which, 
I believe, captains of vessels invariably offered. 
After the vessels had sailed and there was no 
chance of the reward the native Californians 
gave the fugitives no further trouble. 

At that time the only trade, foreign or do- 
mestic, was in hides, tallow, and furs ; but 
mostly hides. With few exceptions the vessels 
that visited the coast were from Boston, fitted 
out by Hooper to go there and trade for hides. ^ 
Occasionally vessels would put in for water or 
in distress, San Francisco was the principal 
harbor ; the next was Monterey. There was an 
anchorage off San Luis Obispo ; the next was 
Santa Barbara, the next San Buenaventura, 
then San Pedro, and lastly San Diego. (See 
map.) The hides were generally collected and 
brought to San Diego and there salted, staked 
out to dry, and folded so that they would 
lie compactly in the ship, 
and thence were shipped 
to Boston. Goods were prin- 
cipally sold on board the 
vessels : there were very few 
stores on land; that of 
Thoinas O. Larkin at Mon- 
terey was the principal one. 
The entrance of a vessel 
into harbor or roadstead 
was a signal to all the 
ranchers to come in their 
little boats and launches 
laden with hides to trade for 
goods. Thus vessels went 
from port to port, remain- 
few or many days ac- 
to the amount of 
trade. When the people 
stopped bringing hides, a 
vessel would leave.^ 

of the bay on which it is situated. With the ex- 
ception of the Presidio and the Aduana (custom-house), 
all the buildings could be counted on the fingers and 
thumbs of one's hands. The most pretentious was a 
frame building erected by Jacob P. Leese, but then 
owned and occupied by the Hudson Bay Company, of 
which a Mr. Ray was agent. The others belonged to 
Captain Hinckley, Nathan Spear, Captain John J. 
Vioget, a Mr. Fuller, "Davis the carpenter," and a 
few others. 

Monterey, when I first saw it (in 1844), had possi- 
bly 200 people, besides the troops, who numbered 



mg 
cording 



TWO PIKE COUNTY ARRIVALS. 

1 See Dana's " Two Years before the Mast " for a 
description of the California coast at this period. 

2 My first visit to the bay of San Francisco was in 
the first week of January, 1842. I had never before 
seen salt water. The town was called Yerba Buena, 
for the peppermint which was plentiful around some 
springs, located probably a little south of the junction 
of Pine and Sansome streets. Afterward — in 1847 
— when through the immigration of 1846 across the 
plains, and through arrivals around Cape Horn, the 
place had become a village of some importance, the 
citizens changed the name to San Francisco, the name 



LIFE IX C A LI FOR XI. I FFFORE THE GOLD DISCOVERY. . 



/ ,> 



I have said that there was no regular jjIin - biniling it in a poultice of mud, and it grew 

sician in California. Later, in 1843, in a com- on again. The new governor, Micheltorena, 

pany that came from ( )regon, was one Joe employed him as surgeon. Meeks hafl a way 

Meeks, a noted character in the Rocky Moun- of looking and acting very wise, ami of being 

tains. On the way he .said, "Hoys, when I reticent when people talked about things which 



«^ 



<^^^^:**^^^^^'. "^ ' ■ ' 



rirX 






!^^.-r-r:- 







^s 



THE FIRST CALIFOKN-IA JAIL, MONTBREV. 



get down to California among the Grea.sers I 
am going to palm myself oft" as a doctor " ; and 
from that time they dubbed him Dr. Meeks. 
He couUl neither read nor write. As soon as 
the Califomians heard of his arrival at Mon- 
terey they began to come to him with their 
difterent ailments. His first profe.ssional .ser- 
vice was to a boy who had a toe cut oft'. 
Meeks, happening to be near, stuck the toe on. 



he did not understand. One day he went into 
a little shop kept by a man known as Dr. 
Stokes, who had been a kind of hos])itaI stew- 
ard on boartl shi]), and who had brought ashore 
one of tho.se little medicine chests that were 
usually taken to sea, with apothecar)* scales, 
and a pamphlet giving a short synopsis of dis- 
ea.ses and a table of weights and medicines, so 
that almost anybody could administer relief to 



about 500. The principal foreigners living there then 
were : rhoni.n>^(1. 1.arkin, D.ivid Spcncc.W. K. I'. H.-irt- 
nell, I.aincs \\atson, Cliarlc-> Walter, .\. G. Toonics, R. 
II.Tliome>.T.nll.ot II.Grccn(raulGe(I(Ies).NV. Hickcy, 
lames McKinky, Milton Liltle.and Dr. J.imes Stokes. 
The jirincipal natives or Mexicans were Governor 
Micheltorcn;!, Manuel Jimcno, Jose ("astro, fuan Mala- 
rinc, Franciscii.\rcc, DonJosC'AbrcLjo. I^nrkin received 
his commission as Anicrican consul for C"alifi>rnia, at 
M.'i/atlan, in 1844. (In his return to Monterey the 
wom.in who washed his clothes took the small-pox. 
1 Jirkin's whole family had it ; it spread, and the nuin- 
Ikt of deaths was fearful, amounting to over cightv. 

When I first saw Santa Harhara, February 5, 1845, 
the old Mission buildings were the principal ones. 
The town — probably h.alf a mile to the cast — con- 
tained jiossibly one hundred persons, among whom 1 
recall Captain Wilson, Dr. Nicholas Den, Captain 
.Scott, Mr. .'^parks, Nilnrver; and of natives, Pablo De 
la Guerra, Carlos .Antonio, Carillo, and others. 



Los .\ngeles I first saw in March, 1845. It then 
had probably two hundred and fifty people, of whom I 
recall Don Abel Stearns, John Temple, Captain .Alex- 
ander Hell, William Widfskill, Lemuel Carpenlci, 
David W. Alexander; aKo of .Mexicans, I'io Pico 
(governor), Don Juan Handini, and others. On ranches 
in the vicinity lived William Workman, H. D. Wilson, 
and John Kolaml. At ."^an I'cdro, Captain Johnson. 
At Kancho Chino, Is.iac Williams. .At San Juan 
C.ij>istrai)o, Don Juan Foster. 

1 went to San Diego, July, 1846, with Fremont's 
battalion, on the sloop of war Cyitiir, Captain Du|x)nt 
(afterwards .Admiral). The jiopulation w.as alniut one 
hundre<l, amonj^ wliom I recall t'aptain Henry D. 
Filih. I Ion Mi_'ii<l de I'edrorcna, Don S.iniiago .Ar- 
^■. I'amily, J. M. Kst 

S.. ; the revolt of - .1 ; ■, 

San Diego was the jKiint from which, in January, 
1847, the final conquest of California was made. 



176 



LIFE IN CALIFORNIA BEFORE THE GOLD DISCOVERY. 



sick sailors. Meeks went to him and said, " Doc- 
tor, I want you to put me up some powders." So 
Stokes went behind his table and got out his 
scales and medicines, and asked, " What kind 
of powders ? " " Just common powders — pa- 
tient not very sick." " If you will tell me what 
kind of powders, Dr. Meeks — " " Oh, just com- 
mon powders." That is all he would say. Dr. 
Stokes told about town that Meeks knew noth- 
ing about medicine, but people thought that 
perhaps Meeks had given the prescription in 
Latin and that Dr. Stokes could not read it. 
But Meeks's reign was to have an end. An 
American man-of-war came into the harbor. 
Thomas O. Larkin was then the United States 
consul at Monterey, and the commander and 
all his officers went up to Larkin's store, among 
them the surgeon, who was introduced to Dr. 
Meeks. The conversation turning vipon the 
diseases incident to the country, Meeks became 
reticent, saying merely that he was going out 
of practice and intended to leave the country, 
because he could not get medicines. The sur- 
geon expressed much sympathy and said, 
" Dr. Meeks, if you will make me out a list I 
will very cheerfully divide with you such medi- 
cines as I can spare." Meeks did not know 
the names of three kinds of medicine, and tried 
evasion, but the surgeon cornered him and 
put the question so direct that he had to an- 
swer. He asked him what medicine he needed 
most. Finally Meeks said he wanted some 
" draps," and that was all that could be got 
out of him. When the story came out his ca- 
reer as a doctor was at an end, and he soon 
after left the country. 

In 1 84 1 there was likewise no lawyer in 
CaHfomia. In 1843 a lawyer named Hast- 
ings arrived via Oregon. He was an ambi- 
tious man, and desired to wrest the country from 
Mexico and make it a repubhc. He disclosed 
his plan to a man who revealed it to me. His 
scheme was to go down to Mexico and make 
friends of the Mexican authorities, if pos- 
sible get a grant of land, and then go into 
Texas, consult President Houston, and go East 
and write a book, praising the country to the 
skies, which he did, with little regard to accu- 
racy. His object was to start a large immi- 
gration, and in this he succeeded. The book 
was published in 1845, and undoubtedly largely 
induced what was called the " great immi- 
gration " of 1846 across the plains, consisting 
of about six hundred. Hastings returned to 
California in the autumn of 1845, preparatory 
to taking steps to declare the country inde- 
pendent and to establish a republic and make 



himself president. In 1846 he went back to 
meet the immigration and to perfect his plans 
so that the emigrants would know exactly where 
to go and what to do. But in 1846 the Mex- 
ican war intervened, and while Hastings was 
gone to meet the immigration California was 
taken possession of by the United States. 
These doubtless were the first plans ever con- 
ceived for the independence of California. 
Hastings knew there were not enough Amer- 
icans and foreigners yet in California to do 
anything. He labored hard to get money to 
publish his book, and went about lecturing 
on temperance in Ohio, where he became 
intimate with a fellow by the name of McDon- 
ald, who was acting the Methodist preacher 
and pretending, with considerable success, to 
raise funds for missionary purposes. At last 
they separated, McDonald preceding Hast- 
ings to San Francisco, where he became bar- 
tender for a man named Vioget, who owned 
a saloon and a billiard table — the first, I think, 
on the Pacific coast. Hastings returned later, 
and, reaching San Francisco in a cold rain, 
went up to Vioget's and called for brandy. 
He poured out a glassful and was about to 
drink it, when McDonald, recognizing him, 
leaned over the bar, extended his hand, and 
said, " My good temperance friend, how are 
you ? " Hastings in great surprise looked him 
in the eyes, recognized him, and said, "My 
dear Methodist brother, how do you do ? " 

It is not generally known that in 1841 — the 
year I reached California — gold was discov- 
ered in what is now a part of Los Angeles 
County. The yield was not rich ; indeed, it was 
so small that it made no stir. The discoverer 
was an old Canadian Frenchman by the name 
of Baptiste Ruelle, who had been a trapper 
with the Hudson Bay Company, and, as was 
not an infrequent case with those trappers, had 
drifted down into New Mexico, where he had 
worked in placer mines. The mines discovered 
by Ruelle in California attracted a few New 
Mexicans, by whom they were worked for sev- 
eral years. But as they proved too poor, Ruelle 
himself came up into the Sacramento Valley, 
five hundred miles away, and engaged to work 
for Sutter when I was in Sutter's service. ^ 
Now it so happened that almost every year a 
party of a dozen men or more would come 
from or return to Oregon. Of such parties 
some — perhaps most of them — would be 
Canadian French, who had trapped all over 
the country , and these were generally the guides. 
In 1S43 it was known to every one that such 
a party was getting ready to go to Oregon. 



1 New Mexican miners invariably carried their gold four ounces, and, being translucent, they were grad- 

(which was generally small, and small in quantity as uated so as to see at any time the quantity in them, 

well) in a large quill — that of a vulture or turkey buz- The gold was kept in by a stopper. Ruelle had such 

zard. Sometimes these quills would hold three or a quill, which appeared to have been carried for years. 



LIFE IN CALU'ORXIA BEI'ORE THE GOLD DISCOVERY. 






.^' 






-""> i?i^W^' 



:'^:'ri 









•^ 






CASON of THF. AMERICAN RIVEK. 







Baptiste Ruelle had been in Sutter's employ 
several months, when one day he came to 
Sutter, showed him a few small ])articles of 
gold, and said he had found them on the Ameri- 
can River, and he wanted to go far into the 
mountains on that stream to prospect for gold. 
For this jnirpose he desired two mules loaded 
with provisions, and he selected two notedly 
stupid Indian boys whom he wanted to go 
into the mountains with him, saying he would 
have no others. Of course he did not get the 
outfit. Sutter and I talked about it and queried. 
What does he want with so much provision 
— the American River being only a mile and 
the mountains only twenty miles distant ? And 
why does he want those two stupid boys, since 
he might be attacked by the Indians? Our 
conclu.sion was that he really wanted the out- 
fit so that he could join the i)arty and go to 
Oregon and remain. Such I believe was Ruelle's 
intention; though in 1848, after James W. 
Marshall had discovered the gold at Coloma, 
Kuellc, who was one of the first to go there 
and mine, still protested that he had dis- 
covered gokl on the American River in 1843, 
The only thing that I can recall to lend the 
least plausibility to Ruelle's pretensions would 
be that, so far as I know, he never, after that 
one time, manifested any desire to go to Oregon, 
and remained in California till he died. Hut 
1 should ad<l. neither did he ever show any 
longing again to go into the mountains to look 
for gold during the subsequent years he re- 
mained with Sutter, even to the time of Mar- 
shall's discovery. 

Early in the spring of 1844, a Mexican 
working under me at the Hock Farm for 
Vol. XLl.— 24. 




us THK Sl'MMIT OF THK l>tk.KKA. 

Sutter came to me and told me there was goKl 
in the Sierra Nevada. His name was I'ablo 
Outierrez. The discovery by Marshall, it will 
be rememl)ered, was in January, 1848. Pablo 
told me this at a time when I was calling him 
to account because he hatl absented himself 
the day before without permission. I was giv- 
ing him a lecture in Spanish, which I could 
speak (juite well in those days. Like many 
Mexicans, he had an Indian wife ; some time 
before, he hail been in the mountains and 
had bought a squaw. She had run away from 



178 



LIFE IN CALIFORNIA BEFORE THE GOLD DISCOVERY. 



him, and he had gone to find and bring her 
back. And it was while he was on this trip, he 
said, that he had seen signs of gold. After my 
lecture he said, " Senor, I have made an im- 
portant discovery ; there surely is gold on Bear 
River in the mountains." This was in March, 
1844. A few days afterward I arranged to go 
with him up on Bear River. We went five or six 
miles into themountains, when he showed me the 
signs and the place where he thought the gold 
was. " Well," I said, " can you not find some ? " 
No, he said, because he must have a ba/ea. 



faithfully kept his promise. It would have 
taken us a year or two to get money enough 
to go. In those days there were every year 
four or five arrivals, sometimes six, of vessels 
laden with goods from Boston to trade for hides 
in California. These vessels brought around 
all classes of goods needed by the Mexican 
people. It would have required about six 
months each way, five months being a quick 
passage. But, as will be seen, our plans were 
interrupted. In the autumn of that year, 1844, 
a revolt took place. The native chiefs of Cali- 







THE ANCHORAGE OF MONTEREY FROM THE OLD BURIAL-GROUND. 



He talked so much about the " batea " that I 
concluded it must be a complicated machine. 
" Can't Mr. Keiser, our saddle-tree maker, 
make the batea ? " I asked. "Oh, no." I did 
not then know that a batea is nothing more 
nor less than a wooden bowl which the Mexi- 
cans use for washing gold. I said, " Pablo, 
where can you get it ? " He said, " Down in 
Mexico." I said, " I will help pay your ex- 
penses if you will go down and get one," which 
he promised to do. I said, " Pablo, say nothing 
to anybody else about this gold discovery, and 
we willgetthebateaandfind the gold." Astime 
passed I was afraid to let him go to Mexico, 
lest when he got among his relatives he might 
be induced to stay and not come back, so I 
made a suggestion to him. I said, " Pablo, let 
us save our earnings and get on a vessel and 
go around to Boston, and there get the batea ; 
I can interpret for you, and the Yankees are 
very ingenious and can make anything." The 
idea pleased him, and he promised to go as soon 
as we could save enough to pay our expenses. 
He was to keep it a secret, and I believe he 



fornia, Jose Castro and ex-Governor Alvarado, 
succeeded in raising an insurrection against 
the Mexican governor, Micheltorena, to expel 
him from the country. They accused him of 
being friendly to Americans and of giving them 
too much land. The truth was, he had simply 
shown impartiality. When Americans had 
been here long enough, had conducted them- 
selves properly, and had complied with the 
colonization laws of Mexico, he had given them 
lands as readily as to native-born citizens. He 
was a fair-minded man and an intelligent and 
good governor, and wished to develop the 
country. His friendship for Americans was a 
mere pretext ; for his predecessor, Alvarado, and 
his successor, Pio Pico, also granted lands freely 
to foreigners, and among them to Americans. 
The real cause of the insurrection against 
Micheltorena, however, was that the native 
chiefs had become hungry to get hold again 
of the revenues. The feeling against Ameri- 
cans was easily aroused and became their main 
excuse. The English and French influence, 
so far as felt, evidently leaned towards the side 



LIFE IN CALIFORNIA BEFORE HIE GOLD DISCOVERY. 179 

of the Californians. It was not o|)cn but it was Sinaloa in Mexico, and sympathizcfl witli the 

felt, and not a tew expressed the liope that Mexican governor and with us. Sutter sent 

I'-ngland or France would some day seize and him with desfjatches to the governor, staling 

hold falifornia. I believe the (iachu|)ines that we were organi/inj^ and preparing to join 

— natives of Spain, of whom there were a few him. Pablo returned, and was sent again to 

— did not participate in the feeling against tell the governor that we were on the march 
the Americans, though few did much, if any- t(j join him at Monterey. This time he was 
thing, to allay it. In October Sutter went from taken prisoner with our despatches and was 
Sacramento to Monterey, the capital, to see hanged to a tree, somewhere near the present 
the governor. I went with him. On our way town of (Jilroy. That of course put an end to 
thither, at San Jose, we heard the first mutter- our gold «liscovery ; otherwise Pablo (iutierre/ 
ings of the insurrection. We hastened to might have been llie discoverer iiv t( .id of 
Monterey, and were the first to communicate Marshall. > 

the fact to the governor. Sutter, alarmed, took Put I still had it in my mind to try to fmd 

the first opportunity to get away by water, gold; so early in the spring of 1845 I made it 

There were in those days no mail routes, no a point to visit the mines in the south dis- 

public conveyances of any kind, no regular covered by Ruelle in 1841. They were in the 

line of travel, no public highways. Hut a ves- mountains about twenty miles north or north- 

sel happened to touch at Monterey, anil Sut- east of the Mission of San Fernando, or say 

ter took passage to the bay of San Francisco, fifty miles from Los Angeles. I wanted to see 

and thence by his own launch reached home, the Mexicans working there, and to gain what 

In a few days the first blow was struck, the knowledge I could of gold digging. Dr. John 

insurgents taking all the horses belonging to Town.send went with me. Pablo's confidence 

the government at Monterey, setting the gov- that there was gold on Bear River was fresh 

emor and all his troops on foot. He raised a in my mind ; and I hoped the same year 

few horse as best he could and pursued them, to find time to return there and explore, 

but could not overtake them on foot. However, and if pos.sible find gold in the Sierra Nevada. 

I understood that a sort of j)arley took place But I had no time that busy year to carry 

at or near San Jose}, but no battle, surrender, out my purpo.se. The Mcxican.s' slow and 

or settlement. .Meanwhile, having started to inefficient manner of working the mine was 

return by land to Sutter's Fort, two hundred most discouraging. When I returned to Sut- 

miles di.stant, I met the governor returning to ter's Fort the same spring Sutter <lesired me 

Monterey. He stopped his forces and talked to engage with him for a year as bookkeeper, 

with me half an hour and confitled to me his which meant his general business man as 

plans. He desired me to beg the Americans to well. His financial matters being in a bad 

be loyal to Mexico ; to assure them that he was way, I consented. I had a great deal to 

their friend, and in due time would give them do besides keeping the books. Among other 

all the lands to which they were entitled. He undertakings we sent men southeast in the 

sent particularly friendly word to Sutter. Then vSierra Nevada about forty miles from the fort 

I went on to the Mission of San Jose and there to saw lumber with a whipsaw. Two men 

fell in with the insurgents, who had made that would .saw of good timber about one hundred 

place their head<|uarters ; I staid all night, or one hundred and twenty-five feet a day. 

and the leaders, Castro and .\lvarado, treated Early in July I framed an excuse to go into 

me like a prince. The two insurgents pro- the mountains to give the men some special 

tested their friendship for the Americans, and directions about lumber needed at the fort, 

sent a reiiuest to Sutter to support them. On The day was one of the hottest I had ever 

my arrival at the fort the situation was fully experienced. No place looked fiivorable for 

considered, and all, with a single exception, a gold di.scovery. I even attempted to descend 

concluded to sup|)ort Micheltorena. He had into a deej) gorge through which meandered 

been our friend ; he had granted us land ; he a small stream, but gave it up on account of 

promised, and we felt that we could rely upon, the brush and the heat. My search was fruit- 

his continued friendshij) ; and we felt, indeed less. The place where Marshall discovered 

we knew, we could not repose the same con- gold in 1848 was about forty miles to the 

fidence in the native Calif'ornians. This man north of the saw-pits at this place. The next 

Pablo Ciutierrez, who had told me about the spring, 1849, I joined a party to go to the 

gold in the Siena Nevada, was a native of mines on and south of the Cosumne and 

• The insurrection cn<ictl in the cuipitul.ition — I commander-in-chief of the milit.nry. Tlicy rcij^ntnl 

might call it cxnuUion — of Micheltorena. The causes hut one year, and then can>e the Mexican war. Castro 

which led to this result were various, some of them in- was made governor of I^wer California, and died 

famous. I'io Pico, being the oldest mcml)cr of the there. Pio I'ico was not a vindictive man; he was 

Departmental .-Xsscnjbly, liccame governor, and Castro a mild governor, and still lives at Los .\ngc1es. 



LIFE IN CALIFORNIA BEFORE THE GOLD DISCOVERY. 




'--> -.i- - , r/"-^^^ '""i ^-^^ 



THE OLD CUARTEL AT MONTEREY. 



Mokelumne rivers. The first day we reached 
a trading post — Digg's, I think, was the name. 
Several traders had there pitched their tents to 
sell goods. One of them was Tom Fallon, 
whom I knew. This post was within a few 
miles of where Sutter's men sawed the lumber 
in 1845. I asked Fallon if he had ever seen 
the old saw-pits where Sicard and Dupas had 
worked in 1845. He said he had, and knew 
the place well. Then I told him how I had 
attempted that year to descend into the deep 
gorge to the south of it to look for gold. 

" My stars ! " he said. " Why, that gulch 
down there was one of the richest placers that 
have ever been found in this country " ; and 
he told me of men who had taken out a pint 
cupful of nuggets before breakfast. 

Fremont's first visit to California was in the 
month of March, 1844. He came via eastern 
Oregon, traveling south and passing east of 
the Sierra Nevada, and crossed the chain 
about opposite the bay of San Francisco, 
at the head of the American River, and de- 
scended into the Sacramento Valley to Sut- 
ter's Fort. It was there I first met him. He 
staid but a short time, three or four weeks 
perhaps, to refit with fresh mules and horses 
and such provisions as he could obtain, and 
then set out on his return to the United States. 
Coloma, where Marshall afterward discovered 
gold, was on one of the branches of the Amer- 
ican River. Fremont probably came down that 
very stream. How strange that he and his 
scientific corps did not discover signs of gold, 
as Commodore Wilkes's party had done when 
coming overland from Oregon in 1841 ! One 
morning at the breakfast table at Sutter's, Fre- 
mont was urged to remain a while and go to 
the coast, and among other things which it 



would be of interest for him to see was men- 
tioned a very large redwood tree {Sequoia 
scmpervirens) near Santa Cruz, or rather a 
cluster of trees, forming apparently a single 
trunk, which was said to be seventy-two feet 
in circumference. I then told Fremont of the 
big tree I had seen in the Sierra Nevada 
in October, 1841, which I afterwards verified 
to be one of the fallen big trees of the Cala- 
veras Grove. I therefore believe myself to have 
been the first white man to see the mammoth 
trees of California. The Sequoias are found no- 
where except in California. The redwood that 
I speak of is the Sequoia seiupervirejis^ and is 
confined to the sea-coast and the west side of 
the Coast Range Mountains. The Sequoia gi- 
gantea, or mammoth tree, is found only on the 
western slope of the Sierra Nevada — nowhere 
farther north than latitude 38° 30'. 

Sutter's Fort was an important point from 
the very beginning of the colony. The building 
of the fort and all subsequent immigrations 
added to its importance, for that was the first 
point of destination to those who came by 
way of Oregon or direct across the plains. 
The fort was begun in 1842 and finished in 
1844. There was no town till after the gold 
discovery in 1848, when it became the bus- 
tling, buzzing center for merchants, traders, 
miners, etc., and every available room was in 
demand. In 1849 Sacramento City was laid 
ofi" on the river two miles west of the fort, and 
the town grew up there at once into a city. 
The first town was laid oft" by Hastings and 
myself in the month of January, 1846, about 
three or four miles below the mouth of the 
American River, and called Sutterville. But 
first the Mexican war, then the lull which 
always follows excitement, and then the rush 



IJFF. IX CALIFORXIA BEFORE THE GO/./) /)/SCOl'E/x'y. i8i 



and roar of the t;okl discovery, prevented its 
building up till it was too late. Attempts were 
several times made to revive Sutterville. but 
Sacramento City had become too strong to be 
removed. Sutter always called his colony and 
fort " New Helvetia," in spite of which the 
name mostly used by others, before the Mexi- 
can war, was Sutter's Fort, or Sacramento, 
anil later Sacramento altogether. 

Sutter's m:my enterprises continued to create 
a growing demand for lumber. Kvery year, 
and sometimes more than once, he sent parties 
into the mountains to explore for an available 
site to build a sawmill on the Sacramento 
River or some of its tributaries, by which 
the lumber could be rafted down to the fort. 
There was no want of timber or of water power 
in the mountains, but the canon features 
of the streams rendered rafting impractica- 
ble. The year after the war ^ 184.7) i^utter's 
needs for lumber were even greater than ever, 
although his embarrassments had increased 
and his ability to undertake new enterprises 
became less and less. Yet, never discouraged, 
nothing daunted, another hunt must be made 
for a sawmill site. This time Marshall hap- 
j)encd to be the man chosen by Sutter to search 
the mountains. He was gone about a month, 
and returned with a most favorable 
rei)ort. 

James W . Marsiiall went across the 
plains to Oregon in 1S44, and thence 
came to California the next year. 
He was a wheelwright by trade, but, 
being very ingenious, he couUl turn 
his hand to almost anything. So he 
acted as carpenter for Sutter, and 
did many other things, among which 
I may mention making wheels for 
spinning wool, and looms, reeds, and 
shuttles for weaving yarn into coarse 
blankets for the Indians, who did the 
carding, s|)inning, weaving, and all 
other labor. In 1846 Marshall 
went through the war to its 
close as a private. Besides 
his ingenuity as a me- 
chanic, he had most 
singular traits. Al- 
most every one pro- 
nounced him half 
crazy or hare- 
brained. He was 
I crtainlyecccntric, 
and perliaps some- 
what flighty. His 
insanity, however, 
if he had any. was 
of a harmless kind ; 
he was neither vi- 
cious nor quarrel- 



some. He had great, almost overweening, 
confidence in his ability to do anything as 
a mechanic, i wrote the contract between 
.Sutter and him to build the mill. .Sutter was to 
furnish the means; Marshall was to build and 
run the mill, and have a share of the lumber for 
his compensation. His idea was to haul the 
lumber part way and raft it down the .American 
River to Sacramento, and thence, his part of it. 
down theSacramentoRiver,an(l through Sui>un 
and San I'ablo bays t(j San Francisco for a 
market. Marshall's mind, in .some respects at 
least, must have been unbalancefl. It is hard 
to conceive how any sane man could have 
been so wide of the mark, or how any one 
could have selected such a site for a saw- 
mill under the circumstances. Surely no other 
man than Marshall ever entertained so wild a 
scheme as that of rafting sawed lumber down 
the canons of the American River, and no 
other man than Sutter would have been so 
confiding and credulous as to patronize him. 
It is proper to say that, under great difficulties, 
enhanced by winter rains, Marshall succeeded 
in building the mill — a very good one. too, 
of the kind. It had improvements which I 
had never seen in sawmills, and I had had 
considerable experience in Ohio. But the 





■-^: 




"--'^->^- 




/^^»5^: 



r 



-^^:6y'\^ 



A SrANISH-CAUPORNIAN TVfK. 



l82 



LIFE IN CALIFORNIA BEFORE THE GOLD DISCOVERY. 



mill would not run because the wheel was 
placed too low. It was an old-fashioned 
flutter wheel that propelled an upright saw. 
The gravelly bar below the mill backed the 
water up, and submerged and stopped the 
wheel. The remedy was to dig a channel or 
tail-race through the bar below to conduct 
away the water. The wild Indians of the 
mountains were employed to do the digging. 
Once through the bar there would be plenty 
of fall. The digging was hard and took some 
weeks. As soon as the water began to run 
through the tail-race the wheel was blocked, 
the gate raised, and the water permitted to 
gush through all night. It was Marshall's 
custom to examine the race while the water 
was running through in the morning, so as 
to direct the Indians where to deepen it, and 
then shut off the water for them to work 
during the day. The water was clear as 
crystal, and the current was swift enough to 
sweep away the sand and lighter materials. 
Marshall made these examinations early in 
the morning while the Indians were getting 
their breakfast. It was on one of these occa- 
sions, in the clear shallow water, that he saw 
something bright and yellow. He picked it up — 
it was a piece of gold ! The world has seen and 
felt the result. The mill sawed little or no lum- 




BULL AND BEAR FIGHT. 



ber ; as a lumber enterprise the project was a 
failure, but as a gold discovery it was a grand 
success. 

There was no excitement at first, nor for three 
or four months — because the mine was not 
known to be rich, or to exist anywhere except 
at the sawmill, or to be available to any one 
except Sutter, to whom every one conceded 
that it belonged. Time does not permit me 
to relate how I carried the news of the dis- 



covery to San Francisco ; how the same year 
I discovered gold on Feather River and 
worked it ; how I made the first weights and 
scales to weigh the first gold for Sam Bran- 
nan ; how the richness of the mines became 
known by the Mormons who were employed 
by Sutter to work at the sawmill, working 
about on Sundays and finding it in the crev- 
ices along the stream and taking it to Bran- 
nan's store at the fort, and how Brannan kept 
the gold a secret as long as he could till the 
excitement burst out all at once like wildfire. 
Among the notable arrivals at Sutter's Fort 
should be mentioned that of Castro and Castil- 
lero, in the fall of 1845. The latter had been 
before in California, sent, as he had been this 
time, as a peace commissioner from Mexico. 
Castro was so jealous that it was almost im- 
possible for Sutter to have anything like a pri- 
vate interview with him. Sutter, however, was 
given to understand that, as he had stood 
friendly to Governor Micheltorena on the side 
of Mexico in the late troubles, he might rely on 
the friendship of Mexico, to which he was en- 
joined to continue faithful in all emergencies. 
Within a week Castillero was shown at San 
Jose a singular heavy reddish rock, which 
had long been known to the Indians, who 
rubbed it on their hands and faces to paint 
them. The Californians had often 
tried to smelt this rock in a black- 
smith's fire, thinking it to be silver 
or some other precious metal. But 
g;- Castillero, who was an intelligent 

"^ man and a native of Spain, at once 

•^ recognized it as quicksilver, and noted 

its resemblance to the cinnabar in 
the mines of Almaden. A company 
was immediately formed to work it, 
of which Castillero, Castro, Alex- 
ander Forbes, and others were 
members. The discovery of quick- 
silver at this time seems providen- 
tial in view of its absolute necessity 
to supplement the imminent discov- 
ery of gold, which stirred and waked 
into new hfe the industries of the 
world. 

It is a question whether the United 
States could have stood the shock of 
the great rebellion of 1861 had the 
California gold discovery not been made. 
Bankers and business men of New York 
in 1864 did not hesitate to admit that but 
for the gold of California, which monthly 
poured its five or six millions into that financial 
center, the bottom would have dropped out of 
everything. These timely arrivals so strength- 
ened the nerves of trade and stimulated busi- 
ness as to enable the Government to sell its 
bonds at a time when its credit was its life- 



A'.l.VL// .l\D Af/SS/OX /hlYS /\ .1/7,1 CAIU-ORNIA. 



I S3 



blooil and the main reliance by which to fce<l, of gold is no less manifest in tlie time chosen 

clothe.and maintain itsarmies. Onceourhonds for its accomplishment. 

went down to thirty-eight cents on the df)llar. I must reserve for itself in a conclurling pa- 

C'alifornia gold averted a total collapse, and per my personal recollections rif Fremont's 

enabled a preserved Inion to come forth from secon<l visit to California in 1845-46, which I 

the great conflict with only four billions of have purposely wholly omitted here. It was 

debt instead of a luindre<l billions. The han<l most important, resulting as it did in the ac(|ui- 

of Providence so plainly seen in the discovery sition of tiiat territory by the United States. 

John IVnhoell. 



RWCll WD MISSION' n.\\'S IX .ALTA CAM I ( )kXI.\. 



«:i 







11 seems to me that there 
never was a more peaceful 
ir hai)])y j)eoplo on the 
ice of the earth than the 
Spanish, Mexican, and In- 
dian population of Alta 
( 'alifornia before the Amer- 
ican conquest. We were 
the pioneers of the Pacific 
coast, building towns and Missions while Gen- 
eral Washington was carrying on the war of 
the Revolution, and we often talk together 
of the days when a few hundred large Spanish 
ranches and Mission tracts occupied the whole 
country from the Pacific to the San Joaquin. 
No class of American citizens is more loyal 
than the Spanish Califomians, but we shall 
always be especially proutl of the traditions 
and memories of the long pastoral age before 
1840. Indeed, our social life still ten<ls to keep 
alive a spirit of love for the simple, homely, out- 
door life of our Spanish ancestors on this coast, 
and we tr)-, as best we may, to honor the 
founders of our ancient families, and the saints 
and heroes of our history since the days when 
latherjunijiero jilanted the cross at Monterey. 
The leading features of old Spanish life at 
the Missions, and on the large ranches of the 
last century, have been described in many books 
of travel, and with many contradictions. I shall 
confine myself to those details and illustrations 
of the jiast that no modem writer can possibly 
obtain except vaguely, from hearsay, since they 
exist in no manuscript, but only in the mem- 
ories of a generation that is f:ist passing away. 
My mother has told me much, and I am still 
more indebted to my illustrious uncle, (ieneral 
\'allejo, of Sonoma, many of whose recollec- 
tions are incorporated in this article. 

When I was a child there were fewer than 
hi'ty Spanish families in the region about the 
bay of San Francisco, anil these were closely 
connected by ties of blood or intermarriage. 
My father and his brother, the late General 
N'allejo, saw, and were a part of, the most im- 
portant events in the history of Spanish Cali- 



fornia, the revolution and the conquest. My 
grandfather, Don Ygnacio Vallejo, was equally 
prominent in his day, in the ex|)loration and 
settlement of the province. The traditions and 
recordsofthe family thuscovertheentire period 
of theannalsof early California, from San Diego 
to Sonoma. 

What I wish to do is to tell, as plainly and 
carefully as possible, how the Spanish settlers 
lived, and what they diil in the old days. 'I'he 
story will be partly about the Missions, and 
partly about the great ranches. 

The Jesuit Missions estal)lished in Lower 
California, at Loreto and other places, were 
followed by Franciscan Missions in Alta Cali- 
fornia, with presidios for the soldiers, adjacent 
pueblos, or towns, and the granting of large 
tracts of land to settlers. By 17S2 there were 
nine flourishing .Missions in Alta California — 
San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Carlos, San 
Antonio, San Luis Obispo, San Buenaventura. 
San Cabriel, San Juan, and San Diego. Gov- 
ernor Fajes added Santa Barbara and Puris- 
sima, and by 1 790 there were more than 7000 
Inilian converts in the various Missions, By 
1800 about forty Franciscan fathers were at 
work in .Mta California, six of whom had been 
among the pioneers of twenty and twenty-five 
years before, and they had established seven 
new Missions — San Jose, San Miguel, Soleilad. 
San Fernando, Santa Cruz, San Juan Bautista. 
and San Luis Rey. The statistics of all the 
Missions, so far as they have been preserved, 
have been printed in various histories, and the 
account of their growth, prosperity, and de- 
cadence has often been tolil. All that I wi.sh 
to ])oint out is that at the beginning of the 
century the whole system was comj)letely es- 
tablished in .Mta California. In 1773 Father 
Palou had reported that all the Mis.sions, taken 
together, owned two hundred and four head 
of cattle and a few .sheep, goats, and mules. 
In 1776 the regular five years' supplies sent 
from Slexico to the Missions were as follows: 
107 blankets. 480 yards strijied sackcloth, 389 
yards blue baize, 10 pounds blue maguey cloth, 



1 84 



RANCH AND MISSION DAYS IN ALTA CALIFORNIA. 




A SPANISH WINDOW. 



4 reams paper, 5 bales red pepper, 10 ar- 
robas of tasajo (dried beef), beads, chocolate, 
lard, lentils, rice, flour, and four barrels of 
Castilian wine. By 1800 all this was changed : 
the flocks and herds of cattle of California con- 
tained 187,000 animals, of which 153,000 were 
in the Mission pastures, and large areas of land 
had been brought under cultivation, so that 
the Missions supplied the presidios and foreign 
ships. 

No one need suppose that the Spanish pio- 
neers of California suffered many hardships or 
privations, although it was a new country. 
They came slowly, and were well prepared to 
become settlers. All that was necessary for the 
maintenance and enjoyment of life according 
to the simple and healthful standards of those 
days was brought with them. They had seeds, 
trees, vines, cattle, household goods, and ser- 
vants, and in a few years their orchards yielded 
abundantly and their gardens were full of veg- 



etables. Poultry was raised by the Indians, 
and sold very cheaply ; a fat capon cost 
only twelve and a half cents. Beef and 
mutton were to be had for the killing, and 
wild game was very abundant. At many 
of the Missions there were large flocks of 
tame pigeons. At the Mission San Jose the 
fathers' doves consumed a cental of wheat 
daily, besides what they gathered in the 
village. The doves were of many colors, 
and they made a beautiful appearance on 
the red tiles of the church and the tops of 
the dark garden walls. 

The houses of the Spanish people were 
built of adobe, and were roofed with red 
tiles. They were very comfortable, cool in 
summer and warm in winter. The clay 
used to make the bricks was dark brown, 
not white or yellow, as the adobes in the 
Rio Grande region and in parts of Mexico. 
Cut straw was mixed with the clay, and 
trodden together by the Indians. When 
the bricks were laid, they were set in clay 
as in mortar, and sometimes small peb- 
bles from the brooks were mixed with the 
mortar to make bands across the house. 
All the timber of the floors, the rafters and 
crossbeams, the doorways, and the window 
lintels were " built in " as the house was 
carried up. After the house was roofed it 
was usually plastered inside and out to pro- 
tect it against the weather and make it 
more comfortable. A great deal of trouble 
was often taken to obtain stone for the 
doorsteps, and curious rocks were some- 
times brought many miles for this pur- 
pose, or for gate-posts in front of the 
dwelling. 

The Indian houses were never more 
than one story high, also of adobe, but 
much smaller and with thinner walls. The in- 
mates covered the earthen floors in part with 
coarse mats woven of tules,on which they slept. 
The Missions, as fast as possible, provided them 
with blankets, which were woven under the 
fathers' personal supervision, for home use and 
for sale. They were also taught to weave a 
coarse serge for clothing. 

It was between 1792 and 1795, as I have 
heard, that the governor brought a number of 
artisans from Mexico, and every Mission wanted 
them, but there were not enough to go around. 
There were masons, mflhvrights, tanners, shoe- 
makers, saddlers, potters, a ribbonmaker, and 
several weavers. The blankets and the coarse 
cloth I have spoken of were first woven in 
the southern Missions, San Gabriel, San Juan 
Capistrano, and others. About 1797 cotton 
cloth was also made in a i^^v cases, and the 
cotton plant was found to grow very well. 
Hemp was woven at Monterey. Pottery was 



RANCH AXD MISSIOX DAYS JN ALTA CALIJOKXIA. 



l8: 



made at Mission Dolores. San Fran<:isco. Soap 
was made in i 798, and aflerwanls at all the 
Missions and on many large ranches. The 
settlers themselves were obliged to learn trades 
and teac h them to their servants, so that an 
educated young gentleman was well skilleil in 
many arts and handicrafts. He could ride, of 
course, as well as the best cow-boy of the 
Southwest, and with more grace ; antl he could 
throw the lasso so expertly that I never heard 
of any .\merican who was able to e(jual it. 
He could also make soap, pottery, and bricks, 
burn lime, tan hides, cut out and put together 
a pair of shoes, make candles, roll cigars, and 
do a great number of things that belong to 
dilVerent trades. 

The California Indians were full of rude 
superstitions of every sort when the Francis- 
can fathers tirst began to teach them. It is 
hard to collect old Indian stories in these days, 
because they have become mixed uj) with what 
the fathers taught them. But the wild Indians 
a hundred years ago told the priests what they 
believed, and it was difficult to persuade them 
to give it up. In fact, there was more or less 
of what the fathers told them was " devil- 
worship " going on all the time. Rude stone 
altars were secretly built by the Mission In- 
dians to " Cooksuy," their dreaded god. They 
chose a lonely place in the hills, and made 
piles of Hat stones, five or six feet high. After 
that each Indian passing would throw some- 
thing there, and this act of homage, called 
♦' pooish," continued until the mound was cov- 
ered with a curious collection of beads, feath- 
ers, shells from the coast, and even garments 
and food, which no Indian dared to touch. 
The fathers destroyed all such altars that they 
could discover, and punished the Indians who 
worshiped there. Sometimes the more ardent 
followers of Cooksuy had meetings at night, 
slipping away from the Indian village after 
the retiring-bell had rung and the alcalde's 
rounds had been made. They prepared for the 
ceremony by fasting for several days; then 
they went to the chosen place, built a large 
tire, went through many dances, and called 
the god by a series of very strange and wild 
whistles, which always frightened any person 
who heard them. The old Indians, after being 
converted, told the priests that before they 
had seen the Spaniards come Cooksuy made 
his appearance from the midst of the fire in the 
form of a large white serpent ; afterward the 
story was changed, and they reported that he 
sometimes took the form of a bull with fiery 
eves. 

Indian alcaldes were appointed in the Mis- 
sion towns to maintain order. Their duty was 
that of police officers; they were dressed bet- 
ter than the others, antl wore shoes and stock- 
Voi.. XLI.— 2;. 



ings, which newly appointed officers dispensed 
with as often as jxjssible, cho<jsing to go bare- 
foot, or with stockings only. When a vacancy 
in the office occurred the Indians themselves 
were asked which one they preferred of sev- 
eral suggested by the priest. The Mission San 
Jose had about five thousand Indian converts 
at the time of its : -^ • t pros])crity, and a 
number of Indian a! were needed there. 

The alcaldes of the Spanish people in the 
pueblos were mcjre like local judges, and were 
appointed by the governor. 

The Indians who were personal attendants 
of the fathers were chosen with much care, 
for their obedience and quickness of percep- 
tion. Some of them seemed to have reached 
the very perfection of silent, careful, unselfish 
service. They could be trusted with the most 
important matters, and they were strictly hon- 
est. Each father had his own private barber, 
who enjoyed the honor of a seat at the table 
with him, and generally accompanied him in 
journeys to other Missions, When the Mis- 
sions were secularized, this custom, like many 
others, was abolished, and one Indian barber, 
named Tele(iuis, felt the change in his posi- 
tion so much that when he was ordered out 
to the field with the others he committed sui- 
cide by eating the root of a poisonous wild 
plant, a species of celery. 

The Indian vaqueros, who lived much of the 
time on the more distant cattle ranges, were a 
wild set of men. I remember one of them, 
named Martin, who was stationed in Amador 
Valley antl became a leader of the hill vatjue- 
ros, who were very different from the vacjueros 
of the large valley near the Missions. He and 
his friends killed and ate three or four hundred 
young heifers belonging to the Mission, but 
when Easter approached he felt that he must 
confess his sins, so he went to Father Narciso 
and told all about it. The father forgave 
him, but ordered him to come in from the 
hills to the Mission and attend school until 
he could read. The rules were very strict ; 
whoever failed twice in a lesson was always 
whippeil, Martin was utterly unable to learn 
his letters, and he was whipped every day for 
a month ; but he never c()mi)lained. He was 
then dismissed, and went back to the hills, I 
used to question Martin about the aflair, and 
he would tell me with perfect gravity of man- 
ner, which was very <lelightful, how many 
calves he had consumeil and how wisely the 
good father had punisheti him. He knew 
now, he useil to say, how ver)' hard it was to 
live in the town, and he would never steal 
again lest he might have to go to school until 
he had learned his letters. 

It was the custom at all the .Missions, dur- 
ing the rule of the Franciscan missionaries, to 



i86 RANCH AND MISSION DAYS IN ALTA CAIIFORNIA. 

keep the young unmarried Indians separate. Indian village begged the father in charge to 
The young girls and the young widows at the forgive the poor woman. 
Mission San Jose occupied a large adobe The padres always had a school for the In- 
building, with a yard behind it, inclosed by dian boys. My mother has a novcua, or " nine- 
high adobe walls. In this yard some trees days' devotion book," copied for her by one of 
were planted, and a zaiija, or water-ditch, sup- the Indian pupils of the school at the Mission 
plied a large bathing-pond. The women were San Jose, early in the century. The handwrit- 
kept busy at various occupations, in the build- ing is very neat and plain, and would be a 
ing, under the trees, or on the wide porch ; they credit to any one. Many young Indians had 
were taught spinning, knitting, the weaving good voices, and these were selected with 
of Indian baskets from grasses, willow rods great care to be trained in singing for the 
and roots, and more especially plain sewing, church choir. It was thought such an honor 
The treatment and occupation of the unmar- to sing in church that the Indian families 
ried women was similar at the other Missions, were all very anxious to be represented. Some 
When heathen Indian women came in, or were taught to play on the violin and other 
were brought by their friends, or by the sol- stringed instruments. When Father Narciso 
diers, they were put in these houses, and under Duran, who was the president of the Francis- 
the charge of older women, who taught them cans in California, was at the Mission San 
what to do. Jose, he had a church choir of about thirty 

The women, thus separated from the men, well-trained boys to sing the mass. He was 

could only be courted from without through himself a cultivated musician, having studied 

the upper windows facing on the narrow vil- under some of the best masters in Spain, and 

lage street. These windows were about two so sensitive was his ear that if one string was 

feet square, crossed by iron bars, and perhaps out of tune he could not continue his service, 

three feet deep, as the adobe walls were very but would at once turn to the choir, call the 

thick. The rules were not more strict, how- name of the player, and the string that was 

ever, than still prevail in some of the Spanish- out of order, and wait until the matter was 

American countries in much higher classes, corrected. As there were often more than a 

socially, than these uneducated Indians be- dozen players on instruments, this showed 

longed to ; in fact, the rules were adopted by high musical abihty. Every prominent Mis- 

the fathers from Mexican models. After an sion had fathers who paid great attention to 

Indian, in his hours of freedom from toil, had training the Indians in music, 

declared his affection by a sufficiently long A Spanish lady of high social standing tells 

attendance upon a certain window, it was the the following story, which will illustrate the 

duty of the woman to tell the father mission- honor in which the Mission fathers were 

ary and to declare her decision. If this was held : 

favorable, the young man was asked if he Father Majin Catala, one of the missionaries 
was willing to contract marriage with the early in the century, was held to possess pro- 
young woman who had confessed her prefer- phetic gifts, and many of the Spanish settlers, 
ence. Sometimes there were several rival the Castros, Peraltas, Estudillos, and others, 
suitors, but it was never known that any have reason to remember his gift. When any 
trouble occurred. After marriage the couple priest issued from the sacristy to celebrate 
were conducted to their home, a hut built for mass all hearts were stirred, but with this holy 
them among the other Indian houses in the father the feeling became one of absolute awe. 
village near the Mission. On more than one occasion before his sermon 

The Indian mothers were frequently told heasked the congregation to join him in prayers 
about the proper care of children, and cleanh- for the soul of one about to die, naming the hour, 
ness of the person Avas strongly inculcated. In every case this was fulfilled to the very let- 
in fact, the Mission Indians, large and small, ter, and that in cases where the one who died 
were wonderfully clean, their faces and hair could not have known of the father's words, 
fairly shining with soap and water. In several This saint spent his days in labor among the 
cases where an Indian woman was so slovenly people, and he was loved as well as feared, 
and neglectful of her infant that it died she But on one occasion, in later life, when the 
was punished by being compelled to carry in Mission rule was broken, he offended an Indian 
her arms in church, and at all meals and pub- chief, and shortly after several Indians called 
lie assemblies, a log of wood about the size of at his home in the night to ask him to go and 
a nine-months'-old child. This was a very see a dying woman. The father rose and 
effectual punishment, for the Indian women dressed, but his chamber door remained fast, 
are naturally most affectionate creatures, and so that he could not open it, and he was on 
in every case they soon began to suffer gready, the point of ordering them to break it open 
and others with them, so that once a whole from without, when he felt a warning, to the 



KAXCH AND AflSSIOX DAYS JX ALIA CALJFOKXIA. 



1S7 



effect that they were ^oini^ to muriler him. 
Then he said, " 'I'o-morrow 1 will visit your 
sick : you are forgiven ; go in peace." Then 
they fled in dismay, knowing that his person 
was ])rotected by an especial provitlcnce, and 
soon after confesseil their plans to the father. 

Father Real was one of the most genial and 
kindly men of the missionaries, and he sur- 
priseil all those who had thought that every one 
of the fathers was severe. He saw no harm in 
walking out among tiie young peojile, and say- 
ing friendly things to them all. He was often 
known to go with young men on moonlight 
rides, lassoing grizzly bears, or chasing deer on 
the plain. His own horse, one of the best ever 
.seen in the valley, was richly cajjarisoned, and 
the father wore a scarlet silk sash around his 
waist under the Franciscan habit. When older 
and graver })riests reproached him, he used to 
say with a smile that he was only a Mexican 
Franciscan, and that he was brought up in a 
saddle. He was certainly a superb rider. 

It is said of Father Amoros of San Rafael 
that his noon meal consisted of an ear of dry 
com, roasted over the coals. This he carried 
in his sleeve and partook of at his leisure 
while overseeing the Indian laborers. Some 
persons who were in the habit of reaching a 
priest's house at noontime, so as to be asked 
to dinner, once called on the father, and were 
told that he had gone to the field with his com 
in his inaii^iitllii, but they rotle away without 
seeing him, which was considered a breach of 
good manners, and much fun was made over 
their haste. 

The principal sources of revenue which the 
.Missions enjoyed were the sales of hitles ami 
tallow, fresh beef, fruits, wheat, and other things 
to ships, and in occasional sales of horses to 
trappers or traders. The Russians at Fort Ross, 
north of San Francisco, on Bodega Bay, 
bought a good deal from the Missions. Then 
too the Inilians were sent out to trade with 
other Indians, and so the Missions often se- 
cured many valuable furs, such as otter anil 
beaver, together with skins of bears and deer 
killed by their own hunters. 

The embarcadero^ or " landing," for the Mis- 
sion San Jose was at the mouth of a salt- water 
creek four or five miles away. When a ship 
sailed into San Francisco Bay, and the captain 
sent a large boat up this creek and arranged 
to buy hides, they were usually hauled there 
on an ox-cart with solid wooden wheels, called 
a tarreta. But often in winter, there being no 
roads across the valley, each separate hide was 
doubled across the middle anil placed on the 
head of an Indian. Long files of Indians, each 
carrying a hide in this manner, could be seen 
trotting over the unfenced level land through 
the wild mustard to the c/til>arcadcro, anil in 



a few weeks the whole cargo would thus be 
delivered. For such work the Indians always 
received additional gifts for themselves anil 
families. 

A very important feature was the wheat 
harvest. Wheat was grown more or less at all 
the Mi.ssions. If those Americans who came 
to California in 1849 ami said that wheat 
would not grow here had only visited the 
Missions they would have .seen beautiful large 
wheatfields. Of course at first many mistakes 
were made by the fathers in their experiments, 
not only in wheat anil corn, but also in wine- 
making, in crushing olives for oil, in grafting 
trees, and in creating fine flower and vegetable 
gardens. At most of the Missions it took them 
several years to find out how to grow good 
grain. At first they planted it on too wet land. 
At the Mission San Jose a tract about a mile 
square came to be used for wheat. It was 
fenced in with a ditch, dug by the Indians 
with sharp sticks and with their hands in the 
rainy season, and it was so deep and wide 
that cattle and horses never crossed it. In 
other places stone or adobe walls, or hedges 
of the prickly pear cactus, were used about the 
wheatfields. Timber was never considered 
available for fences, because there were no saw- 
mills and no roads to the forests, so that it 
was only at great expense and with extreme 
difliculty that we procured the logs that were 
necessary in l)uilding, and chop|>ed them 
slowly, with poor tools, to the size we wanted. 
Sometimes low adobe walls were made high 
and safe by a row of the skulls of Spanish 
cattle, with the long curving horns attached. 
These came from the mataiizas, or slaughter- 
corrals, where there were thousantls of them 
lying in piles, and they could be so used to 
make one of the strongest and most etfective 
of barriers against man or beast. Set close and 
deep, at various angles, about the gateways 
and corral walls, these cattle horns helped to 
protect the inclosure from horse-thieves. 

When wheat was sown it was merely 
"scratched in " with a wooden plow, but the 
ground was so new and rich that tlie yield was 
great. The old Mission field is now occupied 
by some of the best farms of the valley, show- 
ing how excellent was the fathers' judgment 
of good land. The old ditches which fenced 
it have been i:)lowed in for more than forty 
years by American farmers, but their course 
can stili be distinctly traced. 

A special ceremony was connected with the 
close of the wheat harvest. The last four 
sheaves taken from this large field were tied 
to poles in the fomi of a cross, and were then 
brought by the reapers in the " harvest pro- 
cession " to the church, while the bells were 
rung, and the father, dressed in his robes, 



i88 RANCH AND MISSION DAYS IN ALTA CAIIFORNIA. 

carrying the cross and accompanied by boys titles put an end to most of these plans, and 
with tapers and censers, chanting the Te Deum some of them were afterward carried out by 
as they marched, went forth to meet the sheaves. Americans when the ranches were broken up. 
This was a season of Indian festival also, and One of the greatest of the early irrigation 
one-fifth of the whole number of the Indians projects was that of my grandfather, Don Yg- 
were sometimes allowed to leave the Mission nacioVallejo, who spent much labor and money 
for a certain number of days, to gather acorns, in supplying San Luis Obispo Mission with 
dig roots, hunt, fish, and enjoy a change of oc- Avater. This was begun in 1776, and completed 
cupation. It was a privilege that they seldom, the following year. He also planned to carry 
or never, abused by failing to return, and the the water of the Carmel River to Monterey ; 
fact shows how well they were treated in the this has since been done by the Southern Pa- 
Missions, cific Railway Company. My father, Don J. 

Governor Neve proposed sowing wheat, I J. Vallejo, about fifty years ago made a stone 
have heard, in 1776, and none had been sown aqueduct and several irrigation and mill ditches 
in California before that time. At the pueblo from the Alameda Creek, on which stream 
of San Jose, which was established in 1777, he built an adobe flour-mill, whose millstones 
they planted wheat for the use of the presi- were brought from Spain, 
dios, and the first sowing was at the wrong I have often been asked about the old Mis- 
season and failed, but the other half of their sion and ranch gardens. They were, I think, 
seed did better. The fathers at San Diego more extensive, and contained a greater va- 
Mission sowed grain on the bottom lands in riety of trees and plants, than most persons 
the willows the first year, and it was washed imagine. The Jesuits had gardens in Baja 
away; then they put it on the mesa above the California as early as 1699, and vineyards and 
Mission, and it died ; the third year they found orchards a i&\\ years later. The Franciscans 
a good piece of land, and it yielded one hun- in Alta California began to cultivate the soil 
hundred and ninety-five fold. as soon as they landed. The first grapevines 

As soon as the Missions had wheatfields were brought from Lower California in 1769, 
they wanted flour, and mortars were made, and were soon planted at all the Missions ex- 
Some of them were holes cut in the rock, with cept Dolores, where the climate was not suit- 
a heavy pestle, lifted by a long pole. When able. Before the year 1800 the orchards at 
La Perouse,the French navigator, visited Mon- the Missions contained apples, pears, peaches, 
terey in 1786, he gave the fathers in San Carlos apricots, plums, cherries, figs, olives, oranges, 
an iron hand-mifl, so that the neophyte women pomegranates. At San Diego and San Buena- 
could more easily grind their wheat. He also ventura Missions there were also sugar canes, 
gave the fathers seed-potatoes from Chili, the date palms, plantains, bananas, and citrons, 
first that were known in California. La Pe- There were orchards and vineyards in Cali- 
rouse and his officers were received with much fornia sufficient to supply all the wants of the 
hospitality at San Carlos. The Indians were people. I remember that at the Mission San 
told that the Frenchmen were true Catholics, Jose we had many varieties of seedling fruits 
and Father Palou had them all assembled at which have now been lost to cultivation. Of 
the reception. Mrs. Ord, a daughter of the pears we had four sorts, one ripening in early 
De la Guerra family, had a drawing of this summer, one in late summer, and two in au- 
occasion, made by an officer, but it was stolen tumn and winter. The Spanish names of these 
about the time of the American conquest, like pears were the Presidenta, the Bergainota, the 
so many of the precious relics of Spanish Cal- Pana, and the LecJiera. One of them was as 
ifornia. La Perouse wrote : " It is with the large as a Bartlett, but there are no trees of it 
sweetest satisfaction that I shall make known left now. The apples, grown from seed, rip- 
the pious and wise conduct of these friars, who ened at different seasons, and there were seed- 
fulfil so perfectly the object of their institu- ling peaches, both early and late. Aninteresting 
tion. The greatest anchorites have never led and popular fruit was that of the Nopal, or 
a more edifying life." prickly pear. This fruit, called tuna, grew on 

Early in the century flour-mills by water the great hedges which protected part of the 

were built at Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, Mission orchards and were twenty feet high 

San Jose, and San Gabriel. The ruins of some and ten or twelve feet thick. Those who know 

of these now remain ; the one at Santa Cruz how to eat a tuna, peeling it so as to escape 

is very picturesque. Horse-power mills were the tiny thorns on the skin, find it delicious, 

in use at many places. About the time that The Missions had avenues of fig, olive, and 

the Americans began to arrive in numbers the other trees about the buildings, besides the 

Spanish people were just commencing to pro- orchards. In later times American squatters 

ject larger mill enterprises and irrigation ditches and campers often cut down these trees for fire- 

for their own needs. The difficulties with land wood, or built fires against the trunks, which 



RANCH AND MISSION DAYS IN ALTA CALIFORNIA. 



189 



killed them. Several hundred large and valu- 
able olive trees at the San Diego Mission were 
killed in this way. The old orchards were 
pruned and cultivated with much care, and 
the paths were swept by the Indians, but after 
the sequestration of the Mission projjcrty they 
were neglected and ran wild. 'j1ie olive-mills 
and wine-presses were destroyed, and cattle 
were pastured in the once fruitful groves. 

The flower gardens were gay with roses, 
chiefly a pink and very fragrant sort from 
Mexico, called by us the Castilian rose, and 
still seen in a few old gardens. Besides roses, 
we had pinks, sweet-peas, hollyhocks, nastur- 
tiums which had been brought from Mexico, 
and white lilies. The vegetable gardens con- 
tained pease, beans, beets, lentils, onions, car- 
rots, red peppers, com, potatoes, squashes, 
cucumbers, and melons. A fine quality of to- 
bacco was cultivated and cured by the Indians. 
Hemp and flax were grown to some extent. 
A fine large cane, a native of Mexico, was 
planted, and the joints found useful as spools 
in the blanket factory, and for many domestic 
purposes. The young shoots of this cane were 
sometimes cooked for food. Other kinds of 
plants were grown in the old gardens, but 
these are all that I can remember. 

In the old days every one seemed to live 
out-doors. There was much gaiety and social 
life, even though people were widely scattered. 
We traveled as much as possible on horseback. 
Only old people or invalids cared to use the 
slow cart, or carrcta. Young men would ride 
ft"om one ranch to anodier for parties, and 
whoever found his horse tired would let him 
go and catch another. In 1806 there were so 
many horses in the valleys about San Jose 
that seven or eight thousand were killed. 
Nearly as many were driven into the sea at 
Santa Barbara in 1807, and the same thing 
was done at Monterey in 1810. Horses were 
given to the runaway sailors, and to trappers 
and hunters who came over the mountains, 
for common horses were very plenty, but fast 
and beautiful horses were never more prized 
in any country than in California, and each 
young man had his favorites. A kind of mus- 
tang, that is now seldom or never seen on 
the Pacific coast, was a peculiar light cream- 
colored horse, with silver-white mane and tail. 
Such an animal, of S|)ced and bottom, often 
sold for more than a horse of any other color. 
Other much admired colors were dapple-gray 
and chestnut. The fathers of the Mission some- 
times rode on horseback, but they generally 
had a somewhat modem carriage called a vo- 
lante. It was always drawn by mules, of which 
there were hundreds in the Mis.sion pastures, 
and white was the color often preferred. 

Nothing was more attractive than the wed- 



ding cavalcade on its way from the bride's 
house to the Mission church. The horses 
were more richly caparisoned than for any 
other ceremony, and the bride's nearest rela- 
tive or family representative carried her be- 
fore him, she sitting on the saddle with her 
white satin shoe in a loop of golden or silver 
braid, while he sat on the bear-skin covered 
anquera behind. The groom and his friends 
mingled with the bride's party, all on the best 
horses that could be obtained, and they rode 
gaily from the ranch house to the Mission, 
sometimes fifteen or twenty miles away. In 
April and May, when the land was covered 
with wild-flowers, the light-hearted troop rode 
along the edge of the uplands, between hill 
and valley, crossing the streams, and some of 
the young horsemen, anxious to show their 
skill, would perform all the feats for which the 
Spanish-Californians were famous. After the 
wedding, when they returned to lead in the 
feasting, the bride was carried on the horse of 
the groomsman. One of the customs which 
was always observed at the wedding was to 
wind a silken tasseled string or a silken sash, 
fringed with gold, about the necks of the bride 
and groom, binding them together as they 
knelt before the altar for the blessing of the 
priest. A charming custom among the middle 
and lower classes was the making of the satin 
shoes by the groom for the bride. A few weeks 
before the wedding he asked his betrothed for 
the measurement of her foot, and made the 
shoes with his own hands; the groomsman 
brought them to her on the wedding-day. 

But few foreigners ever visited any of the Mis- 
sions, and the)- naturally caused quite a stir. At 
the Mission San Jose, about 1820, late one night 
in the vintage season a man came to the village 
for food and shelter, which were gladly given. 
But the next day it was whispered that he was 
a Jew, and the poor Indians, who had been 
toid that the Jews had crucified Christ, ran to 
their huts and hid. Even the Spanish chiklren, 
and many of the gro\\Ti people, were fright- 
ened. Only the missionary father had ever 
before seen a Jew, and when he found that it 
was im])Ossible to check the excitement he sent 
two soldiers to ride with the man a portion of 
the way to Santa Clara. 

A number of trappers and hunters came into 
Southern California and settled down in vari- 
ous towns. There was a party of Kentuckians, 
beaver-traj)pers, who went along the Gila and 
Colorado rivers about 1827, and then south 
into Baja California to the Mission of Santa 
Catalina. Then they came to San Diego, where 
the whole country was much excited over their 
hunter clothes, their rifles, their traps, and the 
strange stories they told of the deserts, and 
fierce Indians, and things that no one in Cali- 



190 RANCH AND MISSION DAYS IN ALTA CALIFORNIA. 

fornia had ever seen. Captain Paty was the American had it entered as government land 
oldest man of the party, and he was ill and in his own name, and kept all of it. In many 
worn out. All the San Diego people were very similar cases American settlers in their deal- 
kind to the Americans. It is said that the other ings with the rancheros took advantage of 
Missions, such as San Gabriel, sent and desired laws which they understood, but which were 
the privilege of caring for some of them. Cap- new to the Spaniards, and so robbed the latter 
tain Paty grew worse, so he sent for one of the of their lands. Notes and bonds were consid- 
fathers and said he wished to become a Cath- ered unnecessary by a Spanish gentleman in 
olic, because, he added, it must be a good re- a business transaction, as his word was always 
hgion, for it made everybody so good to him. sufficient security. 

Don Pio Pico and Dona Victoria Dominguez Perhaps the most exasperating feature of 
de Estudillo were his sponsors. After Captain the coming-in of the Americans was owing to 
Paty's death the Americans went to Los An- the mines, which drew away most of the ser- 
geles, where they all married Spanish ladies, vants, so that our cattle were stolen by thou- 
were given lands, built houses, planted vine- sands. Men who are now prosperous farmers 
yards, and became important people. Pryor and merchants were guilty of shooting and 
repaired the church silver, and was called selling Spanish beef " without looking at the 
" Miguel el Platero." Laughlin was always so brand," as the phrase went. My father had 
merry that he was named " Ricardo el Buen about ten thousand head of cattle, and some 
Mozo." They all had Spanish names given he was able to send back into the hills until 
them besides their own. One of them was a there were better laws and officers, but he lost 
blacksmith, and as iron was very scarce he the larger part. On one occasion I remember 
made pruning shears for the vineyards out of some vigilantes caught two cattle-thieves and 
the old beaver traps. sent for my father to appear against them, but 
On Christmas night, 1828, a ship was he said that although he wanted them pun- 
wrecked near Los Angeles, and twenty-eight ished he did not wish to have them hanged, 
men escaped. Everybody wanted to care for and so he would not testify, and they were set 
them, and they were given a great Christmas free. One of them afterward sent conscience 
dinner, and offered money and lands. Some money to us from New York, where he is liv- 
of them staid, and some went to other Missions ing in good circumstances. The Vallejos have 
and towns. One of them who staid was a Ger- on several occasions received conscience 
man, John Gronigen, and he was named "Juan money from different parts of the country. 
Domingo," or, because he was lame, "Juan The latest case occurred last year (1889), when 
Cojo." Another, named Prentice, came from a woman wrote that her husband, since dead, 
Connecticut, and he was a famous fisherman had taken a steer worth twenty- five dollars, 
and otter hunter. After 1828 a good many and she sent the money, 
other Americans came in and settled down Every Mission and ranch in old times had 
quietly to cultivate the soil, and some of them its calaveras, its " place of skulls," its slaughter- 
became very rich. They had grants from the corral, where cattle and sheep were killed by 
governor, just the same as the Spanish people, the Indian butchers. Every Saturday morning 
It is necessary, for the truth of the account, the fattest animals were chosen and driven 
to mention the evil behavior of many Ameri- there, and by night the hides were all stretched 
cans before, as well as after, the conquest. At on the hillside to dry. At one time a hundred 
the Mission San Jose there is a small creek, cattle and two hundred sheep were killed 
and two very large sycamores once grew at weekly at the Mission San Jose, and the meat 
the Spanish ford, so that it was called la aliso. was distributed to all, " without money and 
A squatter named Fallon, who lived near the without price." The grizzly bears, which were 
crossing, cut down these for firewood, though very abundant in the country, — for no one ever 
there were many trees in the caiion. The Span- poisoned them, as the American stock raisers 
ish people begged him to leave them, for the did after 1849, — used to come by night to the 
shade and beauty, but he did not care for that, ravines near the slaughter-corral where the 
This was a litde thing, but much that happened refuse was thrown by the butchers. The young 
was after such pattern, or far worse. Spanish gentlemen often rode out on moon- 
In those times one of the leading American light nights to lasso these bears, and then they 
squatters came to my father, Don J. J. Val- would drag them through the village street, 
lejo, and said : " There is a large piece of your and past the houses of their friends. Two men 
land where the cattle run loose, and your with their strong rawhide reatas could hold any 
vaqueros have gone to the gold mines. I will bear, and when they were tired of this sport 
fence the field for you at my expense if you they could kill him. But somerimes the bears 
will give me half." He liked the idea, and as- would walk through the village on their way 
sented, but when the tract was inclosed the to or from the corral of the butchers, and so 



RANCH AXD MI SSI OX DAYS IX ALTA CALIFORXIA. 



191 



scatter the people. Several times a serenaile 
party, sinj,'ing anil playing l>y moonlight, was 
suddenly broken up by two or three grizzlies 
tri )tting down the hill into the street, and the gay 
calhillt-ros with their guitars would spring over 
the adobe walls and run lor their horses, which 
always stood saddled, with a reata coiled, ready 
for use, at the saddle bow. It was the custom 
in every family to keej) saddled horses in ca.sy 
reach, day and night. 

Innumerable stories about grizzlies are tra- 
ditional in the old Sjxmish families, not only 
in the Santa Clara Valley, but also through 
the Coast Range from San Diego to Sonoma 
and Santa Rosa, St)me of the bravest of the 
young men would go out alone to kill griz- 
zlies. When they had lassoeil one they would 
drag him to a tree, and the well-trained horse 
would hold the bear against it while the hunter 
slipiK-'d out of the saddle, ran up, and killed 
the grizzly with one stroke of his broad-bladed 
machete-, or Mexican hunting knife. One Sj)an- 
ish gentlemen riding after a large grizzly las- 
soed it antl was dragged into a deep barranca. 
Horse and man fell on the bear, and astonished 
him so much that he .scrambled up the bank, 
antl the hunter cut the reata and gladly enough 
let him go. There were many cases of herds- 
men and hunters being killed by grizzlies, 
and one could fill a volume with stories of 
feats of courage and of mastery of the reata. 
The governor of California appointed expert 
bear hunters in different j)arts of the country, 
who spent their time in destroying them, by 
pits, or shooting, or with the reata. Don Ra- 
fael Soto, one of the most famous of these men, 
used to conceal himself in a pit, covered with 
heavy logs and leaves, with a quarter of freshly 
killed beef above. When the grizzly bear 
walked on the logs he was shot from beneath. 
Before the feast-days the hunters sometimes 
went to the foothills and brought several bears 
to turn into the bull-fighting corral. 

The i)rincipal bull-fights were held at Easter 
and on the day of the patron saint of the 
Mission, which at the Mission San Jose was 
March 19. Young gentlemen who had trained 
for the contest entered the ring on foot and 
on horseback, after the Mexican manner. In 
the bull and bear fights a hindfoot of the bear 
was often tied to the forefoot of the bull, tcj 
equalize the struggle, for a large grizzly was 
more than a match for the fiercest bull in Cal- 
ifornia, or indeed of any other country. Bull 
and bear fights continued as late as 1855. The 
Indians were the most ardent supporters of 
this cruel sport. 

The days of the rodeos, when cattle were 
; riven in from the surrounding pastures, and 
the herds of the difTerent ranches were sep- 
arated, were notable episodes. The ranch 



owners elected three or five jurzrs del campo 
to govern the proceedings and decide disputes. 
After the rodeo there was a feast. The great 
feast-days, however, were December 12 (the 
day ofour Lady (iuadalui)e), Christmas, Faster, 
and Si. Joseph's Day, or the dnv f)f tlic i< tron 
saint of the Mission, 

Family life among the old Spanish piuneers 
was an atTair of dignity and ceremony, but it 
dill not lack in affection. Children were 
brought up with great respect for their elders. 
It was the privilege of any elderly person to 
correct young people by words, or even by 
whipping them, and it was never told that any 
one thus chastised made a complaint. Farh 
one of the old families taught their children 
the history of the family, and reverence to- 
wards religion. A few books, some in manu- 
script, were treasured in the household, but 
children were not allowed to read novels until 
they were grown. They saw little of other 
children, except their near relatives, but they 
had many enjoyments unknown to children 
now, and they grew up with remarkable 
strength and healthfulness. 

In these days of trade, bustle, and confusion, 
when many thousands of i)eople live in the 
Californian valleys, which formerly were oc- 
cupied by only a few Spanish families, the 
quiet and happy domestic life of the ])ast seems 
like a dream. We, who loved it, often .speak 
of those days, and especially of the duties of 
the large Spanish households, where so many 
dependents were to be cared for, and every- 
thing was done in a simple and primitive way. 

There was a grouj) of warm springs a few 
miles distant from the old adobe house in 
which we lived. It made us children happy 
to be waked before sunrise to prepare for the 
"wa.sh-day expedition" to the Aii^ua Calientf. 
The night before the Indians had soaped the 
clumsy carreta's great Nvheels. Lunch was 
])lared in baskets, and the gentle oxen were 
yoked to the pole. We climbeil in, under the 
green cloth of an old Mexican flag w hich was 
used as an awning, and the white-haired Indian 
_i:^anan, who had driven the carreta since his 
boyhood, plodded beside with his long,;'<7/rr»M(7, 
or ox-goad. The great piles of soiled linen 
were f > ' ' on the backs of horses, led by 
other ^ >, while the girls and women 

who were to do the washing trooped along 
by the side of the carreta. All in all, it made 
an imposing cavalcade, though our progress 
was slow, and it was generally sunrise be- 
fore we had fairly reached the spring. The 
oxen pulled us up the slope of the ravine, 
where it was so steep that we often cried, 
" Mother, let us dismount and walk, so as to 
make it easier." The steps of the carreta were 
so low that we could climb in or out without 



192 CALIFORNIA NA. 

stopping the oxen. The watchful mother guided one of the chief anxieties of every household, 

the whole party, seeing that none strayed too Where there were no warm springs the ser- 

far after flowers, or loitered too long talking vants of the family repaired to the nearest 

with the others. Sometimes we heard the howl arroyo, or creek, and stood knee-deep in it, 

of coyotes, and the noise of other wild animals dipping and rubbing the Hnen, and enjoying 

in the dim dawn, and then none of the children the sport. In the rainy season the soiled linen 

were allowed to leave the carreta. sometimes accumulated for several weeks be- 

A great dark mountain rose behind the hot fore the weather permitted the house mistress 

spring, and the broad, beautiful valley, un- to have a wash-day. Then, when at last it 

fenced, and dotted with browsing herds, sloped came, it seemed as if half the village, with 

down to the bay as we climbed the canon to dozens of babies and youngsters, wanted to 

where columns of white steam rose among the go along too and make a spring picnic. 

oaks, and the precious waters, which were The group of hot sulphur-springs, so useful 

strong with sulphur, were seen flowing over on wash-days, was a famed resort for sick peo- 

the crusted basin, and falling down a worn pie, who drank the water, and also buried 

rock channel to the brook. Now on these themselves up to the neck in the soft mud of 

mountain slopes for miles are the vineyards the dope below the spring, where the waste 

of J osiah Stanford, the brother of Senator Le- waters ran. Their friends brought them in 

land Stanford, and the valley below is filled litters and scooped out a hole for them, then 

with towns and orchards put boughs overhead to shelter them from the 

We watched the women unload the linen hot sun, and placed food and fresh water 

and carry it to the upper spring of the group, within reach, leaving them sometimes thus 

where the water was best. Then they loosened from sunrise to sunset. The Paso Robles and 

the horses, and let them pasture on the wild oats, Gilroy Springs were among the most famous 

while the women put home-made soap on the on the coast in those days, and after the an- 

clothes, dipped them in the spring, and rubbed nual rodeos people often went there to camp 

them on the smooth rocks until they were and to use the waters. But many writers have 

white as snow. Then they were spread out told about the medicinal virtues of the various 

to dry on the tops of the low bushes growing California springs, and I need not enlarge 

on the warm, windless, southern slopes of the upon the subject. To me, at least, one of the 

mountain. There was sometimes a great deal dearest of my childish memories is the family 

of linen to be Avashed, for it was the pride of expedition from the great thick-walled adobe, 

every Spanish family to own much linen, and under the olive and fig trees of the Mission, to 

the mother and daughters almost always wore the Agua Caliente in early dawn, and the late 

white. I have heard strangers speak of the return at twilight, when the younger children 

wonderful way in which Spanish ladies of the were all asleep in the slow carreta, and the 

upper classes in California always appeared in Indians were singing hymns as they drove the 

snow-white dresses, and certainly to do so was linen-laden horses down the dusky ravines. 

Guadalupe Vallejo. 

CALIFORNIANA. 



I 



Trading with the Americans. reis, we followed the common plan in those days. 

We cast the tallow in round pits about the size of a 

N the autumn of 1840 my father lived near what is cheese, dug in the black adobe and plastered smooth 

now called Pinole Point, in Contra Costa County, with clay. Before the melted tallow was poured into 

California. I was then about twelve years old, and I the pit an oaken staff was thrust down in the center, 

remember the time because it was then that we saw the so that by the two ends of it the heavy cake could be 

first American vessel that traded along the shores of carried more easily. By working very hard we had a 

San Pablo Bay. One afternoon a horseman from the large number of hides and many pounds of tallow 

Peraltas, where Oakland now stands, came to our ranch, ready on the beach when the ship appeared far out in 

and told my father that a great ship, a ship " with two the bay and cast anchor near another point two or 

sticks in the center," was about to sail from Yerba three miles away. The captain soon came to our land- 

Buena into San Pablo and Suisun, to buy hides and ing with a small boat and two sailors, one of whom 

tallow. was a Frenchman who knew Spanish very well, and 

The next morning my father gave orders, and my who acted as interpreter. The captain looked over the 

brothers, with the peons, went on horseback into the hides, and then asked my father to get into the boat 

mountains and smaller valleys to round up all the best and go to the vessel. Mother was much afraid to let 

cattle. They drove them to the beach, killed them him go, as we all thought the Americans were not to 

there, and salted the hides. They tried out the tallow be trusted unless we knew them well. We feared 

in some iron kettles that my father had bought from they would carry my father off and keep him a prisoner, 

one of the Vallejos, but as we did not have any bar- Father said, however, that it was all right: he went 



Cyl L IFOR NIA NA . 



'93 



and put on his best clothes, gny with silver braid, and discoverer, l>ut a truthful regard for history makes it 

we all cried, and kissctl him goo<l-by, while mother my duty to fix an earlier date. 

clung alx)ut his neck and said we might never see During the month of January, 1851, I was making 

him again. Then the captain told her : " If you are a tour of observation along the western slo|)e of the 

afraid, I will have the sailors take him to the vessel, .Sierra of California in company with Trofessor p'or- 

while I slay here until he comes back. He ought to rest Shcpard of New Haven, ("onn., and Professor 

see all the goods I have, or he will not know what to Xooney, formerly of Western Reserve College, ()lii«i. 

buy." After a little my mother let him go with the Between the I2lh and 15th of January we hailed ai 

captain, and we sloo<l on the beach to see them off. the trading jiost established by Coulter, who was then 

Mother then came back, and h.-id us all kneel down and there doing a prosperous business in selling sup- 

and pray for father's safe return. Then we felt safe, plies to the gold miners in the vicinity. 'ITie locality. 

He came back the next day, l)ringing four boat-loads I believe, is now known as Coullerville, and is about 

of cloth, axes, shoes, fish-lines, and many new things, twenty-five miles west of the Yosemite CaAon. We 

There were two grindstones and some cheap jewelry, stopped there overnight, and during our stay heanl 

.My brother had traded some deerskins for a gun and from some of the men assembled in Coulter's store 

four tooth-brushes, the first ones I had ever seen. I the following incidents, of which they said they had 

remember that we children rubbecl them on our teeth been witnesses or participants. 

till the blood came, and then concluded that after all There h.id been some friction and disturbance in the 

we liked best the bits of pounded willow root that we relations of Indians and whites, but the open and gen- 

hatl used for brushes before, .\fter the captain had eral hostility which gave occasion for the subsequent 

carried all the hitles and tallow to his ship he came movements of the " .Mariposa Battalion " had not 

back, very much pleased with his bargain, and gave commenced at the time of our visit. The first serious 

my father, as a present, a little keg of what he called quarrel occurred a few days before, when six Indians 

Boston rum. We put it away for sick jx;ople. came to a trading tent in the Coulter camp and a 

After the ship sailed my mother and sisters began drunken ruffian from Texas, without any reasonable 

to cut out new dresses, which the Indian women sewed, cause, stabbed to the heart the chief of their party. 

On one of mine mother put some big brass buttons The other five Indians with their bows and arrows at 

about an inch across, with eagles on them. How proud once shot the Texan, and having killed him retreated 

I was! I used to rub them hard every day to make to the forest. Two nights later a pack of sixteen mules 

them shine, using the tooth-brush and some of the were stolen from Coulter's corral and ilriven off into 

pounded egg-shell that my sisters and all the .Spanish the mountains by Indians. 

ladies kept in a box to put on their faces on great oc- Great excitement prevailed, and a company of about 

casions. Then our neighbors, who were ten or fifteen one hundred men from the camp and vicinity armed 

miles away, came to see all the things we had bought, themselves and started on the tr-iil. They followed 

One of the Moragas heard that we had the grind- the tracks into the great canon and surprised the In- 

stones, and sent antl bought them with two fine horses, dians, who had already converted the mules into jerked 

Soon after this I went to school, in an adobe, near meat and had hung it up to dry. They had the satis- 

where the town of San Pablo now stands. A Spanish faction of slaughtering a large number of the Indians, 

gentleman was the teacher, and he told us many new with their squaws and jiapooscs. They noticed es- 

things, for which we remember him with great respect, pecially the grandeur that surrounded the battlefield. 

But when he said the earth was round we all laughed They had returned from the expedition just before our 

out loud, and were much ashamed. That was the first arrival. In narrating their story they gave no name 

day, and when he wrote down my name he told me to the canon, but gave us a description such as could 

that I was certainly " I.n Cantinera, the daughter of apply to no place on earth other than the Yosemite. I 

the regiment." .Vftcrward I found out it was because made no record of ti)e names of these discoverers, for 

of my brass buttons. One girl offered me a beautiful what with the big trees, big lumps of gold, and other 

black colt she owned for six of the buttons, but I con- wonders that were seen and heard of daily, a big rift 

tinned for a long lime to think more of those buttons in the mountains would not be thought exceptional or 

than of anything else I fMjssesscd. extraordinary. 

MARTisEi. PruJencia Iligtufii. If Mr. Coulter or any of his associates are still liv- 
ing they can probably give the names, l)esides adding 

"The Date of the Discovery of the Yosemite." other valuable information. 

I fix the dale of the fight at the Yosemite, .ind thus 

Your correspK>ndent, Mr. Bunnell, in the Septem- of the discovery by the company of men who went front 

ber Ckntury, writes an interesting account of his Coulter's January 10, 1851, as proximate, if not ex.ict, 

discovery of the Yosemite, March 5, 185 1. I .am Ijoth from memory and from corrol>orative records, 

sorry to despoil him of the honor of being they>>// Montclair, N. J. Julius //. /Vu//. 




'/" 



Vol. XLI.— 26. 



v) 



N 



SOME VIEWS ON ACTING.^ 




BY TOMMASO SALVINI. 



villa among the woods 
of Vallombrosa some ech- 
oes reached of the friend- 
ly controversy which 
seems to have been 
waged in American 



,0 my quiet country should remain perfectly calm and collected 

however stormy may be the passion he is 
portraying ; that he should merely make be- 
lieve, as it Avere, to feel the emotion he strives 
to make the audience believe he really feels, 
and that he should act entirely with his brain 
and not with his heart, to typify by physio- 
and English magazines logical organs two widely differentiated meth- 
and newspapers regard- ods of artistic work. That M. Coquelin really 
ing one of the underlying principles of the and truly believes this somewhat paradoxical 
art to which I have devoted my life ; a con- theory and endeavors to put his theory into 
troversy in which were ranged on opposite sides practice, I do not for one moment doubt. Ac- 
two such eminent actors as Mr. Henry Irving complished and versatile artist as he is, I have 
and M. Constant Coquelin. These echoes have been struck more than once, as I have enjoyed 
remained ringing in my ears until, despite the the pleasure of his performances, with the 
fact that I think an actor is as a rule better em- thought that something amid all the brilliancy 
ployed in studying the words of others than of execution was lacking ; and this want, so 
in committing phrases of his own to paper, apparent, was due, I apprehend, to the fact 
I have ventured to shape, as briefly and sim- that one of the most skillful artists in the 
ply as possible, my own views on the point in world was deliberately trying to belittle him- 
dispute. This point, if I have rightly under- self and the art of which it was in his power 
stood it, resolves itself mainly into the simple to raise the interpretation to such lofty heights, 
question. Should an actor feel positively and The actor who does not feel the emotion he 
be moved by the emotions he portrays, or portrays is but a skillful mechanician, setting 
should he be entirely negative and keep his own in motion certain wheels and springs which 
emotion at arm's length, as it were, and merely may give to his lay figure such an appearance 
make his audience believe that he is moved ? of life that the observer is tempted to ex- 
Let me, in the first place, frankly state my claim: " How marvelous! Were it only alive 
own opinion, warning my readers first of all 't would make me laugh or weep," He who 
that it is merely an opinion (for questions of feels, on the contrary, and can communicate 
art can never be solved definitely, like a mathe- this feeling to the audience, hears the cry : 
matical problem), and then I can at greater " That zV life ! That /jt reality ! See — I laugh ! 
length strive to show why I hold such views. I weep ! " It is, in a word, the power of feel- 
I believe, then, that every great actor ought to ing that marks the artist ; all else is but the 
be, and is, moved by the emotion he portrays; mechanical side which is common to all the 
that not only must he feel this emotion once arts. There are many born actors who have 
or twice, or when he is studying the part, but never faced an audience, as there are many 
that he must feel it in a greater or less degree — true poets who have never written a verse, 
and to just that degree will he move the hearts and painters who have never taken a palette 
of his audiences — whenever he plays the part, in hand. To some only is given the power of 
be it once or a thousand times, and that he must expression as well as of feeling, and they be- 
cultivate this susceptibility to emotion as care- come artists in the sight of the world as the 
fully as he cultivates the development of his others are in the sight of our semi-divine mis- 
vocal organs, or the habit of moving and walk- tress, the Art universal. 



ing easily and gracefully. This is what I be- 
lieve and always have believed, and I think it 
must be acknowledged that my position as to 
the point at issue is no doubtful one. 

M. Coquelin, on the other hand, maintains, 
if I rightly interpret his extremely well and for- 



It is at this point that I approach more 
closely to M. Coquelin. " The actor," he says 
in eftect, " must carry self-restraint so far that 
where the creature he simulates would burn, 
he must be cold as ice. Like callous scientist, 
he must dissect each quivering nerve and lay 



cibly put expression of opinion, that an actor bare each throbbing artery, all the time keep- 
1 Translated by Alexander Salvini and Horace ing himself impassive as one of the gods of 



Townsend. 



194 



old Greece, lest a rush of hot heart's blood 



im()XI-:i:r sp.wisii i-amiiji:s ix calii-c)rxi.\. 

Wm{ SPKCIAI. RK.FKRKN( K TO IHK VAI.I.KJOS. 



% 




e"- — 



^' 






1 ■ 



""^ 
^ 



•# 






■S- ARTL'RO BANDISI IS THE OLD SPANISH RIDING DRESS 
OF HIS FATHER. 



''rilE m( 
1 falifo 



most attractive literary material left in 
ornia is to be found in the recollec- 
tions and traditions of descendants of the pio- 
neer Spanish flimilies. But these men and 
women must be met with sympathy for their 
misfortunes, and with an unfeigned interest 
in the old ranch and Mission days. As soon 
as their confidence is fairly won they tell all 
tliey know, with almost childlike eagerness to 



help in the restoration of the jjast. Onj im- 
mediately observes the great stress laid upon 
family connexions, the pleasure taken in sto- 
ries of former times, and the especial rever- 
ence for the founders of the jjrovince, the gov- 
ernors and other officials, and the heads of the 
Missions. I'olitics, though of course on an ex- 
tremely small scale, occupies a large part of 
the recollections of the older men. an<l the 
animosities of the jjetty revolutions of half a 
century ago, of the years just before the Ameri- 
< an confjuest, and of the concjuest itself, still 
tlivide families from each other. A glance 
at the subjoined list of the governors of Cali- 
fornia will show the reader how closely united 
were the social and politital features of the life 
of the province. At first the governors had 
much power ; the great families were hardly 
established in their almost feudal relations to 
the soil ; and the long terms of office, — four- 
teen years in one case, — and the i)eaceful pro- 
gress of events, show that it was the age of 
setUement, .\s the Mexican revolution of 1 835 
approached the Cal'fomians grew restive ami 
gave their governors more and more trouble ; 
at last ever)^ noted ranchero family hail a differ- 
ent candidate for the governorship, and that 
" year of revolutions," 1836, saw four succes- 
sive occupants of the office. Picos, Castros, 
Alvarados, and a dozen other families, with 




-:i>^ 






TMB CAML'LUS RANCH, — THK SCR.NP. OF H. H.'s " RAMONA," — AIIOIT TWRK1 

FROM SAN Bl'KNAVKNTCHA. 

v.. I. XI.I.— 50. 



'77 



37^ 



PIONEER SPANISH EAMIIfES 




DON JUAN B. CASTRO. 

their adherents and relatives, were strugghng 
for social and political supremacy.^ 

The great families of the Spanish pioneer 
period have mostly representatives at the pres- 
ent day ; some of them have retained wealth 
and influence, especially in the southern coun- 
ties. Don Romualdo Pacheco, whose mother 
was Ramona Carrillo, became State senator, 
lieutenant-governor, and one of the leaders 
of the Republican party. The grandson of 
Captain Antonio del Valle, who came from 
Mexico to California in 1819, is now one of 
the most prominent politicians in the State. 
Don Juan B. Castro has held many offices of 
trust and profit in Monterey County. Don 
Ignacio Sepulveda, a thoroughly educated 
lawyer, married an American wife, and was 
long a superior judge in Los Angeles. A 
number of similar cases might be mentioned in 
which individuals of the conquered race have 
found their opportunity in the material de- 
velopment of the Pacific coast. Still, these 
were but exceptions ; most of the old families 
sank into obscurity, and it is now difficult to 
trace their connections. Only about thirty 
Spanish families of California have retained 
any wealth or influence. 

Among the families of the first rank as re- 
gards wealth, influence, dignity, and pride of 
birth were the Castros, Picos, Arguellos, Ban- 
dinis, Carrillos, Alvarados, Vallejos, Avilas, 
Ortegas, Noriegas, Peraltas, Sepulvedas, Pa- 
checos, Yorbas, and their numerous connec- 



tions. The Estradas, for instance, were rela- 
tives of the Alvarados, and Don Jose Abrego, 
of Monterey, treasurer of the province from 
1839 to 1846, married an Estrada. This made 
the Abregos allies of the Alvarados. Don Jose's 
son married a daughter of Jacob P. Leese, the 
American, son-in-law of General Vallejo ; his 
daughter married Judge Webb of Salinas : 
the Alvarado- Vallejo connection had drawn 
the Abregos towards the Americans. The 
founder of the Alvarado family was Juan B., a 
settler of 1769, whose son Jose was sergeant at 
Monterey, and whose grandson was the gov- 
ernor. The mother of the governor was Maria 
Josefa Vallejo ; his wife was Martina Castro. 
The founder of the Arguello family was Don 
Jose Dario, who arrived in 1781 ; his wife was 
a daughter of the Moragas, and their children 
intermarried with the best families of the prov- 
ince. One daughter was the famous Maria de 
la Concepcion Marcela, born in 1790, and re- 
membered because of her romance, of which 
Bret Harte has told the story. There is little 
to add to the outlines of the poem, except that 
the tale of the lady Concepcion Arguello is 
familiar to all the Spanish families, and one 
often hears it used to illustrate the " simple 
faith of the ancient days." One of the ladies of 
the Vallejo family retired to a convent. The 
lady Apolinaria Lorenzana, of Santa Barbara 
and San Diego, whose lover died, devoted her 



»■ 





DON MANUEL CASTRO. 



life to teaching and to charity, and was known 
for half a century as "Z(? Pt\i/a" to whom all 
doors were open and all sorrows brought. She 



1 The Spanish and Mexican governors of California Vicente de Sola, 1815 ; Luis Antonio Arguello, 1823 ; 



and the dates of their accession were as follows : Caspar 
dePortola, 1767; Felipe de Barri, 1 771 ; Felipe de Neve, 
1 774 ; Pedro Fages, 1 782 ; Jose Antonio Romen, 1 790 ; 
Jose J. de Arrillaga, 1 792 ; Diego de Borica, 1 794 ; Jose 
J. de Arrillaga, 1800; Jose Dario Arguello, 1S14; Pablo 



Jose Maria de Echeandia, 1825; Manuel Victoria, 
1831 ; Pio Pico, 1832 ; Jose Figueroa, 1833 ; Jose Cas- 
tro, 1S35 ; Nicolas Gutierrez, 1836; Mariano Chico, 
1836; Nicolas Gutierrez, 1836; Juan B. Alvarado, 
1836; Manuel Micheltorena, 1842; Pio Pico, 1845. 



IN CALIFORNIA. 



379 



planted the famous grapevine of Montccito, 
lon^' known as the largest in the worUi, ami 
bearing six thousand clusters in a single season. 




PIO PICO, COVKRNOR OF CALIKORNIA IN 1845. 
(FROM A niOTOGRAPH BV BUTTERFIELU ft SL'MMBRS.) 

I'hcre were other women as worthy of saint- 
-hi]). of whom the elders still speak. 

Tile well-known family of Pico was foun<led 
in 1782, l»y Don Jose Maria, the lather of the 
governor. The northern branch of this family 
si)rang from Don Jose Dolores, who arrived 
in 1790. The first of the Sotos was Don Ig- 
nacio, a pioneer of 1776; and the Moraga 
family date from the same year, their founder 
being Comandante Jose Joaquin, of San Fran- 
( isco Presidio and .San Jose Pueblo. A large 
and prominent Los Angeles family, that of 
the Avilas, was founded by ("omelio Avila in 
1783. Alcalde Avila was killed in the rev- 
olution of 1836. .Several daughters married 
Americans. The Lugos are often spoken of 
in histories. They descend from a Mexican 
soldier, Francisco Lugo, who arrived in 1769, 
the date which ranks among Spanish Cali- 
fomians as 1849 docs among .American pio- 
neers. His four daughters married into the four 
j)rominv;nt families of Ruiz, C'ota, \'aIlejo. and 
("arrillo. The town of Martinez, near Monte 
Diablo, takes its name from the ^L^rtine/ 
family, whose founder was an early alcalde of 
San Francisco, and three of whose daughters 
married .\mcri( ans. A far later arrival was 
the Jimeno family, one of whom was Ciovernor 



.Mvarado's Secretary of State, whose widow 
became the wife of Dr. Ord, and whose two 
sons were taken to the Atlantic States by Lieu- 
tenant Sherman in 1850 to be educated. An 
intimate friend of this fauKJUs secretary was 
Don Jose NL Romero, the most widely known 
teacher and author of the province, who wrote 
and i)rinted the " Catecismo de Ortologia " at 
Monterey in 1836, and establishe<lana<lvance(l 
school, the best in California until the days of 
l'',nri<iue Cambuston an<l Jose Maria Cam]»ina, 
wh(nn (Governor Alvarado brought from 
Mexico. 

The Pandinis descended from an Andalu- 
sian family of high rank, and were in California 
by 1771. Old Captain Jose Pandini was the 
first to raise the Mexican flag, which he did 
on the ship Rciiui, at San Plas, in 182 1. His 
son Juan married Dolores Fstudillo, and, after 
her death, Refugio Arguello, and was very 
pnjminent in the province from 1825 to 1845. 
The extensive Carrillo family and also the 
great Ortega family date their Californian 
record from 1 769. The Ortegas founded Santa 
P»arbara. The Carrillos in the second genera- 
tion married into the Vallejos, Castros, Pache- 
cos, and many other proud families. At the 
time of the concjuest they had connections in 
every part of the province. The late Judge 
Covarrubias, of Santa Barbara, one of the most 
prominent jurists of Southern California, was 
connected by marriage with the Carrillos, 
Captain Noriega, of Santa Barbara, also mar- 
ried a Carrillo, and when he died, in 1858, he 
left more than a hundretl descendants. There 
were large families in those days of simple. 




DNKkAI. AMUMRS PICO. 
(FROM A PIIOTOORAPM IN rOSSESSION OF Plo PIlO ) 



38o 



PIONEER SPANISH FAMILIES 



he;iltliy outdoor life; one often reads in the 
old documents of from twelve to twenty sons 
and daughters of the same parents. Don Cris- 
tobal Dominguez, who owned the Las Vir- 
genes ranch, left fourteen living children, and 
one hundred and ten living descendants. 
The founders of the early families came from 




IMARIA 111', JKSIS VALLEJO (SISTER MARIA TERESA). 



thinir which " astonished all his friends." for it 
was not seemly ; no other Californian did so. 
The officer who founded Branciforte, Colonel 
Pedro Albertia, was a Catalan. The first of the 
Alvisos, the Valencias, and the Peraltas were 
from Sonora. Jose Mariano Bonilla, from the 
city of Mexico, was one of the first lawyers in 
the province. The Vacas, de- 
scendants of the famous coii- 
quistadore Captain Vaca, who 
was under Cortez, came from 
New Mexico. Don Manuel 
Requena of Los Angeles came 
to California from Yucatan. 
The Sunols, who owned one 
of the most beautiful of valleys, 
were from Spain, and the sons 
were sent to Paris to be edu- 
cated. Lieutenant Valdez, who 
was in the Malaspina expe- 
dition of 1 79 1, returned to 
Europe and was killed at Traf- 
algar. This noted expedition, 
under Alejandro Malaspina, 
consisted of two royal corvettes 
of Spain, which left Cadiz in 
1789, reached California in 
1 791, and went around the 
world. In ways like these, and 
from a thousand channels of 
commerce and adventure, every 
province of Spain and Mexico 
became represented among the 
pioneer families of California. 



The Vallejo family traces its 
descent from soldiers and 
nobles of the heroic days of 
Spain, and is as well known in 
the mother country as in Cali- 
fornia. A copy of the genea- 
logical record of the family, 
which has been kej^t with great 
precision, was filed in 1806 in 
the Spanish archives of Alta 
California. It states that Don 
Alonzo Vallejo commanded 
the Spanish troops on board 
the vessel which brought the 



all parts of the Spanish dominions. The Cas- royal commissioner Bobadilla to iVmerica with 

tros were from Sinaloa, and so were the Lugos. orders to carry Columbus a prisoner to Spain. 

Old Don Aguirre, a wealthy ship-owner and Another famous Vallejo was a captain under 

merchant, who first came in his vessel the Cortez, followed that illustrious cutthroat to 

Giiipiiscuana, was a Basque, and his family is the complete conquest of Mexico, and became 

still represented in San Diego and Santa Bar- governor of the province of Panuco, lord of 

bara. Another Basque pioneer was Don Jose great silver mines, and master of peons innu- 

Amesti, a rough, honest fellow, alcalde of merable. 

Monterey, and afterwards the governor's sec- Bilbao, the ancient capital of Burgos, Spain, 

retary, who married Prudencia Vallejo. Gen- was the place from which the branch of the 

eral Castro once told me that Don Jose "would Vallejos that is known in California started 

even say ' carajo ' before his children," a for the New World. Of this branch came Don 



/.V ri/J/'VA'A/J. 



381 




TllK MOTHKK OK (iKS'KKAI. VALLKJO, bOKN 
MAKIA ANTON I A LUGO. 

Ignacio Vicente Vallejo, born in 1748, in the 
city of (luadalaxara, Mexico, and designeil, 
as were many of the family before him, for holy 
ordersand the service of the Church. The young 
man rebelled, volunteered under Ca[)tain Ri- 
vera y Moncada in Padre Junipero Serra's fa- 
mous expedition, landing at San Uiego in 1 769, 
and thus became a j)ioneer among the Span- 
ish ])ioneers themselves. He soon became 
])rominent in the colony, and was not only 
made military commander of various towns, 
but was Icmg the only civil engineer in the 
province, laying out most of the greater irri- 



gation works f)f the Missions and |)ueblos, and 
l»e( oming the owner of extensive an«l valuable 
estates. 

Don Igna< io's engagement and marriage 
are noted in most of the chronicles of the pe- 
riod. The great Missions were being founded, 
and, outside of priests and Indians, few people 
were in the country ; California, as late as in 
the "golden prime of '49," was a masculine 
community, and women of the better sort were 
hanl to fmd. When, therefore, the young sol- 
dier of fortune saw, at San Luis Obispo, in 
1776, on the day of her birth, an infant daugh- 
ter of the Lugo family, then as now prominent 
among the S|)anish families of Southern Cali- 
fornia, he did not delay his wcjoing. Using all 
the dignity and formality that the aristocratic 
;r/////.\ t/e- nizo/i of the period considered es- 
sential in such matters, he obtained an inter- 
view with the parents, and negotiated a solemn 
contract of engagement with the day-olil Se- 
norita Maria Antonia Lugo, subject to the 
girl's future consent. She grew up to be an 
exceedingly attractive and intelligent young 
woman, and in due season they were married. 
It proved an extremely hapjjy and fortunate 
union, and the success of the founder of the 
Vallejo family in California in speaking for 
an infant in arms l^ecame almost a family 
proverb from San Diego to Sonoma. Don Ig- 
nacio's home was notable, even in that pioneer 
age, for its i)atriarchal simjilicity, and he main- 
tained to the day of his death, in 1831, anoble 
and dignified leailership of the family. Sefiora 
Vallejo survived her husband until 1851, and 
a painting made a short time l)efore her death 
shows the almost puritanical severity anil 
strength of character of this old Spanish lady 
of the Arcadian period of California. 

None of the Spanish j)ioneer families have 
more carefully preserved the traditions and 



^- 




UK LA Ot-KKKA MAMSIUN. 



382 



PIONEER SPANISH FAMILIES 



relics of the past than have the Vallejos. With 
them, as with others, the time of greatest pros- 
perity was between 1820 and 1846. Among 
the great families with which they were closely 
connected by marriage or friendship were the 
De la Guerras, whose founder, Don Jose de 
la Guerra y Noriega, was born in Santander, 
Spain, of a family which dates back to the 
Moorish wars. Early in the century the family 
owned no fewer than eight large ranches, and 
as late as 1850 Don Jose sold nearly $100,- 
000 worth of cattle annually, and was one of 
the great men of the pastoral period, with hun- 
dreds of herdsmen scattered over leagues of 
territory. His wife, Maria Antonia Carrillo, 
the daughter of Don Raymundo, one of the 
first commanders at San Diego and Santa 



of every visitor. The freedom from care, the 
outdoor life and constant exercise, and the per- 
fect climate of California had re-created the 
Andalusian type of loveliness. In the Ortega 
family, for instance, the women, who all had 
brown hair and eyes and were of pure Cas- 
tilian stock, were so renowned for their beauty 
that their fame extended to the city of Mexico, 
and General Ramirez came from there with 
letters of introduction to win a daughter of 
the Ortegas. Another of the famous beauties 
of her day was the Sehora Maria Isabel Cota 
de Pico, who was born in 1783 and died in 
1869, leaving over three hundred living de- 
scendants. Sehorita Guadalupe Ortega mar- 
ried young Joseph Chapman, a New Eng- 
lander who landed on the coast in 1818 from 



\\>''- 




%MiM-. 



o^v 




■SI 



ADOBE HOUSE, SONOMA, ERECTED BY GENERAL VALLEJO, 1S34. 



Barbara, was called in common speech " that 
most benevolent lady." The seventh of their 
eleven children was several times mayor of 
Santa Barbara. The eldest daughter married 
W. P. Hartnell, of London. The youngest 
daughter, Antonia, afterwards Mrs. Oreiia, was 
called in her day the greatest beauty on the 
Pacific coast. 

It is remarkable how many of the daugh- 
ters of the best families of the old Cali- 
fornian towns married Americans and Eng- 
lishmen of standing. In the Carrillo family 
four daughters married foreigners ; the Orte- 
gas, Noriegas, and many others showed a simi- 
lar record. The grace, beauty, and modesty 
of the women of the time were the admiration 



the Buenos Ayrean privateer which Bouchard 
commanded, and who was captured by Cor- 
poral Lugo, whose sister married Don Ignacio 
Vallejo. With true Spanish hospitality Lugo 
made him a guest of the family, and in a year 
or two secured his social recognition among 
the leading families. Chapman became prom- 
inent at the Mission San Gabriel, and at Los 
Angeles and Santa Barbara, where he died in 
1849. 

A multitude of stories of the social life of 
the Spanish period might be told here, but it 
is sufficient to give the outline as told by the 
descendants of those old families. Each town 
on the coast was the center of the hide and 
tallow trade for a hundred miles or more. The 



/X CAl.irORMA. 



383 



low a<K)bc stores there held 
piles of costly and beaulifiil 
goods in the days of which 
r'arnhani and Dana wrote — 
the days when the great cattle 
princes came from their 
ranches tf) hold festival. The 
young cavaliers rode in on 
fiery but well-trained and 
gaily caparisoned horses, and 
all the wonderful feats of 
horsenianshij) of as fine a race 
of riders as the world has ever 
seen were performed daily on 
mesa and sea-beach and plaza. 
lUit the home life of these great 
families was simplicity itself. 
In many a Sjianish house there 
was no firejjlace, windcjw, or 
chimney. The fire for cook- 
ing was built on a clay floor, ' j;' 
partly roofed, outside of the 
main building. The house- 
hold utensils were few — a 
copper or iron kettle, a slab of 
rock on which to pound corn 
or wheat, a soapstone griddle 
for the tortillas. Dishes, table- 
ware, and furniture came 
slowly, and were of the most 
simple description. For years 
a raw hide stretched on the 
lloor with a blanket spread 
over it formed the usual bed 
in early California. Every- 
thing was kept ex(}uisitely 
clean, and though the Spanish 
families learned to spend more 
on their houses and l)elong- 
ings, they seemed to look 
upon such things as only affording oppor- 
tunities for a more generous hospitality. 

In the old days there was not a hotel in 
California, and it was coasidered a grievous 
offense even for a stranger, much more for a 
friend, to ])ass by a ranch without stopping. 
l""resh horses were always furnished, and in many 
cases on record when strangers appeared to 
need financial help a jjile of uncounted silver 
was left in the .sleeping apartment, and they 
were given to understand that they were to 
take all they needed. This money was covered 
with a doth, and it was a point of honor not 
to count it beforehand nor afterward.s. It 
was " guest silver," and the custom con- 
tinued until its abuse by travelers compelled 
the native Califomians to abandon it. Among 
themselves no one was ever allowed to suffer 
or struggle for lack of help. The late Dr. 
Nicholas Den, of Santa Barbara, who married 
into the Ortega family, once needed money 





DOfiA VALLEJO, WIDOW OF GENKRAI. VALLKJO, 
BORN FRANCISCA PENICIA CARRILLO. 

to carry through a speculation, and thought 
of going to Los .Angeles to borrow it. ( )ld 
Father Narciso, hearing of the matter, .sent 
his Indian boy to him with a "cora," or 
four-gallon tule ba.sket, full of gold, anil the 
message that he ought to come to his priest 
whenever he needed help. 

The collections of " Documents relating to 
the History of (^ilifoniia" made by (leneral 
Vallejo and his brother Don J. J. Vallejo, 
and now in the I5ancroft library, and the very 
graphic and careful series of manuscript notes 
and memoranda by C.eneral Vallejo, entitled 
"llistoria de California," all cast light upon 
the social and economic conditions in these 
Arcadian days. \ very large number of the 
old fiimilies, such as the Ca-stros, I'icos, .\rccs, 
and I'eraltas, and many of the Americans 
who had married native Califomians, furnished 
manuscri|)ts. letters, and various documents of 
permanent value In fact it may be tloubted if 



384 



PIONEER SPANISH FAMIIIES 



the pioneer period of any other American 
State has had a more complete mass of origi- 
nal authoritative data made ready for the his- 
torian's use. Much still remains to be collected 
from first hands, and many minor historical 
questions will probably be solved by docu- 
ments still held by the native Californian fami- 
lies, who treasure every scrap of written paper. 
The link between the old and the new, be- 
tween the quiet and happy pastoral age of the 
beginning of the century and the age of Ameri- 
can growth and change that followed fast on 



the ca]:)ital of the province, and died Jan- 
uary 18, 1890, in Sonoma, once the northern 
fortress of the province and guarded by 
the young general's soldiers. At the age 
of sixteen he was an officer in the army 
and the private secretary of the governor 
of California. In 1829, when only twenty- 
one, he became lieutenant-commander of 
the northern department, w^hich included all 
the country north of Santa Cruz, and made 
his headquarters at the presidio. Here he or- 
ganized the first town government of Yerba 






'->/ix^ 







WASHING-DAY ON A RANCH. 



the conquest, was that remarkable man, Gen- 
eral Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo,i whose chil- 
dren, as he once told me, " were born under 
three administrations — Spanish, Mexican, and 
Arfierican." One of his daughters said, " Two 
of us, when we were small, were called by our 
brothers and sisters ' the little Yankees.' " 
General Vallejo, the eighth of the thirteen 
children of Don Ignacio, was born in 1808, 
in the old seaport town of Monterey, long 



Buena, and for five years exercised 
both civil and military functions 
there. The Solis rebellion against 
Governor Echeandia, who had re- 
moved the seat of government from 
Monterey to San Diego, began in 
the fall of 1829, and Vallejo aided 
in the defeat of the insurgents at 
Santa Barbara. He was a member of the 
territorial deputation in 1831, and brought 
articles of impeachment against Governor Vic- 
toria, who was defeated and driven from Cali- 
fornia in the revolution which followed. The 
next year General Vallejo married Sehorita 
Francisca Benicia Carrillo, by whom he had 
seventeen children, nine of whom are now liv- 
ing.2 

By 1840 the young lieutenant had reached 



1 See portrait in The Century for December, 1890. Attila Haraszthy, Mrs. E. Emperan, Mrs. J. Henry 

2 The eldest became the wife of General John B. Cutter, Dr. Platon Vallejo, Andronica Vallejo, Ulla 
Frisbie ; the others are the wife of Dr. Frisbie, Mrs. Vallejo, and Napoleon Vallejo. 



/X C. t /.//•() A'. \ /.I. 



3S5 



I V 




.i -Karr*-^. 



THE FANDANGO. 



the rank of lieutenant-general, and was the 
one man in California to whom the entire prov- 
ince turned with perfect confidence in every 
emergency. When (nilierrez was deposed 
Vallejo took control of aftairs, and he made 
his nephew Alvarado ( ivil governor, retaining 
military control himself. .Slicheltorena, who 
succeeded him as governor, confirmed all his 
acts, and appointed him military commaniler 
of the whole territory north of Monterey. 
\'allejo then founded the town of Sonoma, 
making it his military head<iuarters, and spent 
more than a (piarter of a million dollars 
there. He sent to Mexico for a printing press 
and type, set up with his own hands his orders 
and proclamations, and printed and bound sev- 
eral |)amphlets. This was in 1839. The famous 
Zamoranij press of Monterey, which began 
work in November, 1834, with carnival ball 
invitations, ha<l printed the " Catecismo " an<l 
many public documents, which are much jjri/.eil 
by collectors. Paper was so .scarce that the 
proof-sheets and defective ])rints were .saved 
and usetl for fly-leaves of the curious little 
arhmi'licas and other text-books that were 
issued a few years later for the schools of the 
province. 

One has to go back to the days of the fa- 
mous Spanish " marches," or frontier towns built 
and <lefended in Spain's hen^ic age by her 
proudest knights, to fmd a fit parallel in his- 
tory to the positi«)n held by (ieneral Vallejo 
during the closing years of the Mexican rule 
in California. He had absolute sway for a 
hundred miles or more, and h<- "k(],t ih.' 
Vol. XI. I. — 51. 



border." His men rode on horseback to Mon- 
terey and to Captain Sutter's fort on the Sacra- 
mento, bringing him news and carrying his 
letters. Spanish families colonized the fertile 
valleys under his protection, antl Indians came 
and built in the shadows of the Sonoma Mis- 
sion. He owned, as he Ijelieved by unassail- 
able title, the largest and finest ranch in the 
province, and he dispensed a hospitality so 
generous and universal that it was admired 
and extolled even among the old Spanish 
families. J. Quinn Thornton, who visited the 
coast in 1848 antl published his experiences, 
says: '' (lovernor-Ceneral N'allejo owns 1000 
horses that are broken to the saddle and bridle, 
and gooo that are not broken. Hroken horses 
readily bring one hundred dollars apiece, 
but the unbroken ones can be purchased 
for a trivial sum." More and more in the 
closing years of the epoch and the days of 
the contjuest Cieneral N'allejo became the rep- 
resentative man of his people, and .so he has 
received, among many of the old families, the 
reproachful name of a traitor to California 
and to his nation. 'I'he tpiiet intensity of this 
bitterness, even to-day, is a startling thing. I 
have seen men of pure blood, famous in pro- 
vincial history, leave the room at the name of 
Vallejo. 

In 1844-45 the native Californians drove 
out (iovernor .Micheltorena, and began to dis- 
CU.SS the feasibility of establishing a separate 
government. In 1846 the famous Santa Bar- 
bara convention of leading ran< hers o(<urred, 
ind. acconling to Ceneral \'allejo's memo- 



386 



PIONEER SPANISH FAMIIIES 







OLD SWISS HOUSE OF GENERAL VALLEJO AT SONOMA, IMPORTED IN PARTS FROM SWITZERLAND. 



randa, English influences were very strong. 
He exerted all his i)ersonal influence, and se- 
cured an adjournment of the convention to 
Monterey, where that fine old American, Con- 
sul Thomas O. Larkin, helped him in his 
struggle. Here Vallejo made a bold speech 
against an English protectorate, against a sep- 
arate republic, and in favor of annexation to 
the United States and ultimate statehood. He 
was thoroughly equipped for the task, the best 
educated man among the native Californians, 
and inspired by the American ideal. The con- 
vention closed with its leaders, such as his 
nephews Castro and Alvarado, ready to adopt 
the views of Vallejo, and the way seemed pre- 
pared for a hearty welcome to the Americans. 
But the Bear Flag episode followed, Vallejo 
was carried a prisoner to Sutter's Fort, and 
the opportunity of peaceful conquest was 
lost. Nevertheless, as soon as he was released 
he threw himself heart and soul into the 
work of organizing a government. He aided 
in framing a temporary code of laws, and in 
securing its support by the Spanish popula- 
tion. He laid out the town sites of Beni- 
cia and Vallejo on the strait of Carquinez, and 
he was a leading member of the constitu- 
tional convention. General Vallejo's whole 
career showed that he was actuated by a large 
and noble ambition to be recognized as the 
foremost citizen of the State. Nothing marked 
this element in his nature more clearly than 
the magnificent plans for his proposed capital 



at Vallejo. He offered to construct public 
buildings and give large areas of land. The 
long-forgotten scheme, which was laid before 
the legislature of 1850, who accepted, and was 
ratified by the people, was in every respect 
worthy of his magnificent liberality. He began 
to build his new city, but, contrary to the pledges 
of the State, the capital was removed to Sacra- 
mento at the next session of ihe legislature. 
Squatters began to settle upon his great Sus- 
col and Petaluma ranches, and ultimately the 
Supreme Court of the United States rejected 
the title to the larger part of his estates. He 
spent the rest of his life on a comparatively 
small homestead, " Lachryma Montis," near 
the old town of Sonoma. 

Lachryma Montis is one of the few histor- 
ical mansions of the Pacific coast. The dwell- 
ing house, built in 1850-5 1 , cost nearly $60,000 
and came from all parts of the world — the 
mantelpieces from Honolulu, the iron from 
China, the bricks from South America. Car- 
penters' wages were then seventeen dollars a 
day, and the great redwoods that were hewn 
in the Sonoma forests were " whip-sawed " by 
hand for the plank required. The spring on the 
mountain side that gave the mansion its name 
was walled in, and a lake which supplied the 
town with water and fed fountains in the orange, 
lemon, and olive groves was thus formed. 
More nopal hedges were planted, and the old 
ones extended. A chalet imported in parts 
from Switzerland was erected near the man- 



IX CAf.irORMA. 



387 



si'on. KartlitT away wltc tlie old ailohcs. A 
|)avili()n of iron, glass, and hainlKK), imj)ortcil 
from China, cost, as members of the family 
tell mc, more than a hundred thousand <lol- 
lars. When the estates were lost the beautiful 
grounds began to fall into ruins, through lack 
of means to kee|) them up, and in 1890 Gen- 
eral Vallejo died a eom|)aratively jioor man. 

Sonoma Valley is full of stories of his gen- 
erosity. Father Lorenzo Waugh, an early 
Methodist cireuit-rider of the region, saw the 
s<|uatters taking up lanil in the valley while 
waiting for a decision respecting Vallejo's title. 
He went to the general, and was told to go 
ahead and settle on a (juarter-section, and he 
would do all in his power to secure him a title. 
Father Waugh did so, and nine years later, 
while Vallejo was away, the lines of this par- 
ticular district were settled, and his lawyer, 
against orders, soUl the tract on which Waugh 
lived. As soon as Vallejo learned this he gave 
him a title to three hundred acres of better land, 
a part of the home estate. No one will ever 
know how many hundreds of American pio- 
neers owed their start in the world to General 
Vallejo, even while he was struggling against 
immense financial difficulties and losing his 
lands, not by acres, but by square leagues. 



in 1.H49, in .\lameda County. " Vou can keep 
it ; I cannot." 

After General Vallejo found his estate slip- 
ping away he devotefl himself more and more 
to hortic ulture and to the e<lucation of his chil- 
dren. He occa.sionally appeared in public, and 
the greatness of his services to the common- 
wealth was recognized by every thoughtful 
citi/en. The general's name is mentioned in 
nearly every book of travels or magazine arti- 
cle relating to early California. In his later 
years he gathered up and put on record a sur- 
prising wealth of material relating to the (j1<1 
Sjjanish days of California. From him the his- 
torians have drawn m(jst of their important 
details. His manuscript, now in the Hancroft 
collection, is written with such excjuisite care 
and fidelity to truth that, like General Hidwell's 
recollections of early days in the Sacramento 
\'alley, it has become the primary authority 
upon all within its range. 

General \'allejo's readiness of apt anecdote 
was always remarkable. Patti once ilined with 
him, and asked the old soldier if he enjoyed 
the first opera he ever heard. 

'' Why, no," said Vallejo; "and yet I con- 
fess I shall never forget it." 

This reply aroused Patti's curiosity, and she 




AN AOOBE IN SONOMA. 



Many others of the old Californians made a 
distinction between the " Gringo thieves " and 
the plea.sant, manly j)ioneers who were good 
neighbors. A volume could be written about 
the unsolicited gifts of land — fifty acres here, a 
hundred there — matle to young .Americans to 
whom the great rancheros had taken a fancy, 
or who had rendered them a service. "Take the 
land," said Don AlviM) to a Connecticut man 



demanded when and where the event took 
I)lace. 

" In 1828, on the site of the Palace Hotel, 
San Francisco." 

" I ndeed ! .\n<l w ho was the prima donna so 
long ago as that .-' " 

" Well, I can't say," was the smiling answ er ; 
"but there were at least five hundred coyotes 
in the chorus." 



388 



PIONEER SPANISH FAMILIES IN CALIFORNIA. 



/ 



foothills. November 23, 17 74, Captain Rivera, 
with sixteen soldiers and Father Palou, made 
another expedition to the bay. They entered 
the Santa Clara Valley and skirted the western 
shore of the bay of San Francisco, following 
the level plains past the sites of Palo Alto, 
Belmont, and many other towns of to-day, and 
crossing to the ocean beach 
at Laguna de la Merced, 
'^ they reached Point Lobos, 
and climbed the cliff to look 
down on the Golden Gate, 
they planted the cross. The 
in his commemoration ad- 
dress, " That cross I saw myself in the 
year 1829." The expedition returned to 
Monterey " by way of San Pedro, Spanish- 
town, Half Moon Bay, Point New Year, 
Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Castroville, and 
Salinas." In 1775 Captain Ayala sailed the 
A volume of description could not give a San Carlos into the bay of San Francisco, and 
more complete picture of the loneliness of the " remained forty days, exploring it in all direc- 
peninsula at that time. tions." In the spring of 1776 Colonel Anza 

In his younger days General Vallejo not and Lieutenant Moraga led another land expe- 




December 4 
general says 



THE VALLEJO CHARIOT FOR POSTILION AND 
FOOTMAN, BROUGHT FROM MEXICO EARLY IN THIS CENTURY. 



dition to the region and returned to Monterey. 
Then came the foundation of the Mission and 
the Presidio. The military force, under Lieu- 
tenant Moraga, consisted, says General Vallejo, 
of one sergeant, two corporals, and ten soldiers, 
with their wives and children. These conveyed 
Fathers Palou and Cambon, with two Indian 
servants and three neophyte Indians, who 
cared for eighty-six head of Mission cattle, 
partly their own, partly belonging to the king. 
June 27, 1776, they camped at the lagoon or 
lake of Dolores, near where the Mission was 
soon afterwards built. The soldiers erected 



only knew almost every one of the five 
thousand Spanish Californians in the province, 
the greater part of the Mission Inciiaus, and 
the chiefs of the wild tribes, but he gathered up, 
even in his youth, the traditions of the pioneers, 
and tested their accuracy by every possible 
documentary and other evidence. His jour- 
nals are full of variety, and form a complete 
picture of the entire Spanish period. One of 
his memoranda speaks of the galleon San 
Augnstin, which was wrecked in Tomales Bay 
in 1595, and of which portions drifted into the 
Golden Gate in 1830, where they were found 
by Don Jose Antonio Sanches and identified barracks of tule, soon replaced by wood. The 
by General Vallejo ! He has traced the track day of the foundation of the Mission w as fixed 
of every exploring expedition from the earliest atOctober 4, thedayof St. Francis,and October 
settlement, and determined most of their camps. 8 the actual building was begun. Among those 
Hisstoryof the discovery of San Francisco Bay present were Don Ignacio Vallejo, Lieutenant 
illustrates the slowness of the progress of set- Moraga, and members ofthe families of Briones, 
tlement. It was late in 1769 that the Portala Gahndo, Castro, Pacheco, Bojorques, Bernal, 
party and Captain Rivera, with whom was Don Peralta, Higuera, and others of prominence in 
Ignacio Vallejo, worked northward from San Spanish California. 

Diego, past Monterey, and down the San Mateo The historians of Spanish Cahfornian days 
peninsula, till, on November 2, two hunters must draw on such traditions as these, ob- 
of the expedition first looked upon the bay tained from General Vallejo's conversations, 
of San Francisco, and November 4 the whole or written in his memoranda. A single maga- 



party saw the great bay. In March, 1772, 
Captain Fages and Father Crespi made that 
notable exploration which extended from 
Monterey across the Salinas Valley, through 
the hills to the Santa Clara Valley, up the 
east side of the bay past San Jose and Oak- 



zine article can contain only a small part of 
the wealth of tradition that has gathered about 
the old Sonoma homestead of the Vallejos — 
that homestead which is in the highest degree 
typical of all Spanish homesteads of the first 
rank on the Pacific coast. Everywhere, in the 



land, and along the shores of San Pablo and most picturesque portions of Cahfornia, are the 

Suisun to where Antioch now stands. The old adobes that once were social centers of 

San Joaquin River was crossed at this point, the stately Hfe of nearly a century ago. Most 

and recrossed by the expedition, which re- of them are merely ruins, but many are still 

turned to Monterey through the Monte Diablo the homes of the descendants of the first fami- 



/•///•. i//.v.s-A).v.s- or Ai.r.i califoraia. 



389 



lies of tlu- province. Tlu >i.ii- ih.it brought 
sut h change and wreck to the old days have 
now carried them so far back into the mists 
of tradition that they seem centuries away. 
\'alleio's I'ortress on the frontier is now a town, 
as dull and unromantic as Yonkers. About 
the ancient pueblo of Los Angeles has sprung 
up an intensely modern city. \ railroad ex- 
tentlsihrough the very graveyard of San Miguel 
Mission. Much needs to be done by Cali- 



fornians to preserve the memorials of the past 
that was so fair and sf) fruitful a beginning of 
the story of the commonwealth. The agency 
through which this is to be accomplished is 
likely to be the association known as the Na- 
tive Sons of the (lolden West, under whose 
public-si)irited direction was conducted the 
recent successful celebration of the "''n 
of California. 

Charles Iloxcurd Shinit. 



m-v^ii ill 











FROM AN lll.l) Uutl.MENT. 



Till-: MISSIONS OI- ALTA CALIFORNIA.' 



. ■*-> 






^. '■'* 










CROSS AT MONTERKV MARKINT, TIIR LANDING PLACK 
or UNII-KKU S8RKA. 

AL ril( )L (ill the peninsula of Lower Cal- 
ifornia was discovered as early as 1534, 
and many attempts were made to colonize it, 
it remained wholly unoccuj)ied by Spain down 

1 See .nlso " P'ather JuniiKTO .iinl his Work : .\ 
Sketch of tlic Koimd.ition, ProsjxTilv, .Tn'l Ruin of the 
Franciscan Missions in Cilifornia,'* l>y " H. H.." in 
this niagaziiic for May ami June, iS8j — Ediiuk. 



to 1697. In February of that year two Jesuit 
fathers, Juan .NLiria Salvatierra and Francisco 
Eusebio Kino, asked permission to attempt the 
spiritual conquest of the country, which was 
granted on condition that the king should not 
be called on for any part of the expense in- 
volved, and that pos.session should be taken 
distinctly in the name of the Spanish crown. 
.\rmed with this authority and the sanction of 
their superiors in the order, the two mission- 
aries set about collecting funds for their under- 
taking, and in a short time succeeded in obtain- 
ing sufficient means to commence it. These 
funds, subscribed by charitable individuals, 
whose names and contributions the gratitude 
of the fathers has preserved for us to this day, 
increased, in progress of time, to an aggregate 
of sufVicient importance to find frequent men- 
tion in Mexican legislation and history, under 
the name of the " I'ious Fund of the Califor- 
nias." It constituted afterwanls the endow- 
ment and support of the Missions on all the 
west coast of the ( ontinent as far north as 
claimed by Spain, the whole of which was 
called by the general name of the Californias. 
The thirteen Missions founded by the Jesuits 



39° 



THE MISSIONS OF ALTA CALIFORNIA. 



in Lower California extended from Cape San 
Lucas, at the extremity of the peninsula, north- 
wards. Details regarding them are deemed out 
of place here : they were in a flourishing con- 
dition at the time of the expulsion of the order 
in 1768, and the establishments remain to the 
present day ; ruined indeed and deserted by the 
population that once clustered round them, but 
attesting still the pious zeal of their founders. 
In 1767 the Spanish monarch, by a "prag- 
matic sanction," directed that the Society of 



abroad. A few moments only were allowed to 
them to snatch their breviaries, beads, prayer- 
books, and necessary clothing, and within an 
hour after the first knock at the door of the 
establishment the whole body of inmates was 
in motion towards the coast, where they were 
with equal suddenness and despatch shipped 
off to Rome. During their journey to the 
point of embarkation no intercourse was 
allowed either with friends or with persons 
casually met on the road. They vanished 







' •* ' '-4* ■^n;( ^ ijl^w'f'^ '■ 




^T'JrW.''/. ■^"- --^^ 



THE FIRST MISSION IN CALIFORNIA (SAN DIEGO). 



Jesus should be expelled from his dominions. 
With a refinement of cruelty this decree was 
directed to be put into force in every part of the 
kingdom at the same instant. At a given hour 
of the night, long after the inmates were in pro- 
found sleep, a train of vehicles was drawn up 
at the door of every Jesuit college, novitiate, 
or other establishment of any kind, and the 
porter was roused from sleep and directed, in 
the name of the king, to summon all the mem- 
bers of the community to instant assembly in 
the chapel or refectory. Hastily putting on 
their garments, the members obeyed the sum- 
mons, bewildered to conjecture its cause. The 
roll was called, the laggards, if there were any, 
were brought in, and the assembled members 
were then informed that his Majesty had been 
pleased to banish them forever from his do- 
minions. Carriages were awaiting them be- 
low, and relays of animals were provided for 
their transportation to the nearest seaport, 
where vessels were prepared to convey them 



from Spain, and from all the European posses- 
sions of Spain, as silently and as rapidly as a 



mornmg mist. 



It was not possible to enforce this barbarous 
decree with the same cruel precision in Cali- 
fornia. The place was too remote, and its re- 
sources inadequate. It was necessary to supply 
the Missions with other missionaries, else the 
Indians, who had been with so much trouble and 
effort reduced to habits of civilization, would 
infallibly have relapsed again into savagery 
and paganism, and the whole work of con- 
quest would have to be recommenced. Thus 
the necessities of the situation somewhat mod- 
ified the cruelty of the proceedings in Califor- 
nia. The missionaries were assembled in La 
Paz in February, 1768, and amid the tears and 
lamentations of their Indian flocks, who, from 
every Mission in the peninsula, sent delegations 
to accompany their spiritual fathers, they fi- 
nally embarked, and, after a toilsome pilgrim- 
age across Mexico, finally took ship at Vera 



Till: MISSIONS OF AI.TA CA 1. 1 FOR MA. 



39' 




MISSION OF SAN ;Os£. (DRAWN AFTER A DAGl'ERREOTVl'E 
TAKKN IN 1853, NOW OWNED BV J. L. BEARD.) 

Cruz on the i3lh of April. From the magni- 
tude of the Pious Fund the hungry poHticians, 
who hoped to jjrofit by their expulsion, looked 
for large amounts of money from the i)lunder 
of the California Missions. The total of all 
sums found at them proved less than a hun- 
dred dollars. 

Arrangements had been made by the vice- 
roy by which Franciscan friars, drawn from the 
ton vent of San Fernando de Zacatecas, to(;k 
the place of the expelled Jesuits in the several 
Missions; and adopting the rules and practices 
f)f their predecessors they gradually slid into the 
confidence of the simj/le-hearted natives, and 
carried on the work as it had been commenceil. 

At this time the Marquis de Croix was Vice- 
roy of New Spain, and Jose de (ialvcz was 
sent over from the mother country as Visita- 
dor (Jeneral, armed with extraordinary powers. 
Apprehensions of an attempt by the English to 
enlarge their possessions in America and to ob- 
tain a foothold on the I'ac ific made it appear 
unsafe to permit the northwest coast to re- 
main longer unoccupied, and Galvez deter- 
mined to coloni/e it on a large scale. He was 
a man of immense zeal and untiring industry, 
well chosen for an occasion recjuiring energetic 
action. Fortunately he met with an ec( lesiastic 
to second his movements who possessed the 
same (lualities in as high a degree, perhaps in 
a higher, and who joined to them a humble 
])iety, a zealous devotion to duty, and a self- 
abnegation even more remarkable. This was 
Father Junipero Serra, jjresident of the Mis- 
sions. 

Father Michael Joseph Serra was l>()rn in the 
island of Majorca, in the year 171.^. After pur- 
suing his studies in the Fullian I'niversity there 
he evinced a preference for a religious life, and 




BBIXS AND FONT AT SAN JO&£ 

was admitted to the order of St. Francis, tak- 
ing insteatl of his baptismal names that of Ju- 
nipero. by which only he is known in history. 
The Franciscans and Dominicans were, about 
that period, extending their Missions among the 
Indians of .\merica in rivalry with the Jesuits, 
and Father Serra with three of his fellow-mem- 



392 



THE MISSIONS OF AITA CAIIFORNIA. 



bers became inflamed with the desire to take 
part in these pious enterprises. The other asso- 
ciates were Fathers Rafael Verger, Francisco 
Palou, and Juan Crespi. They obtained per- 
mission to join a body of missionaries which in 
1749 was assembled at Cadiz to embark for 
the New World, and after a ninety-nine days' 
voyage they landed in Vera Cruz. Palou has 
left us a quaint history of their journey, which 
in these days of rapid transit is rather amusing. 
The voyage from Majorca to Malaga was made 
in a small English coaster, 

the captain of which [says he] was a stubborn, 
cross-grained heretic, of a disposition so aggravating 
that, during the fifteen days our passage to Malaga 
lasted, he gave us not a minute's peace. We scarce 
had time to read our office, from his everlasting and 



missionaries overboard, and on one occasion 
clapped a dagger at Father Serra's throat, 
threatening his life. It is not surprising that 
the missionaries rejoiced at again reaching /d'rris! 
Jirma after fifteen days of tossing in a Mediter- 
ranean vessel and enjoying from the officers 
these social amenities. 

After many years'successful missionary eftbrts 
in the Sierra Gorda, Father Serra was selected 
to take principal charge of the Missions of 
California, now confided to the Franciscans, 
and he arrived at the port of Loreto with fif- 
teen associates on the 2d of April, 1768. After 
having made the necessary dispositions for oc- 
cupying the various establishments of the pe- 
ninsula — a task which occupied many months, 
as they extended over a territory seven hundred 



-v^r 5^ 



■m^ms^- 



^ 






•* r"-* -^^ru«u(.^M'«<'-*WM.^i»**««ifi^pai(t*ft^^ 



ml •^* f- * ( H^M"^-^-^^- 




,i^ ■-«- - ' 



'"lilllfe'iife ■ 






MISSION OF SAN ANTONIO OF PADUA, ABOUT TWENTY WILES FROM MONTEREY. 



persistent craving to dispute about religion and 
wrangle over doctrinal points. He understood no 
language save English and a mere smattering of 
Portuguese, and in the latter he conducted his dis- 
putations. With the English version of the Bible 
in his hand he would read a text of the Holy Scrip- 
ture and proceed to interpret it according to his own 
ideas. But our Father junipero was so well versed 
in dogmatic theology and so familiar with the Holy 
Scriptures that he would at once point out the error 
and misinterpretation, and frequently refer to an- 
other text in confirmation. Thecaptain would there- 
upon rummage his greasy old Bible, and when he 
could find no other escape would declare that the 
leaf was torn and he could n't find the verse he 
wanted. 

The captain, as Father Palou states, re- 
mained " doggedly perverse " till the last, and 
in fact the disputes waxed so hot at times that 
he more than once threatened to throw the 



mile, in length — he was ready to cooperate with 
Galvez in the subjection of Upper California 
to the practical dominion of the crown of Spain 
and the Christian religion. Two expeditions 
were organized for the purpose, one by sea 
and the other by land. The latter was formed 
into two detachments, which, after a toilsome 
march from San Fernando de Vellicata, on the 
Indian frontier of Lower California, were, on 
the ist of July, 1769, reunited at the bay of 
San Diego, where the schooners Sa/i Carlos and 
San Antonio, which had come up the coast to 
meet them, were also safely anchored. San 
Diego was a place of which at that time noth- 
ing more was known than that there was an 
excellent harbor, which had been visited by 
Sebastian Vizcayno in his voyage of 1601-2. 
This journey to San Diego occupied ninety- 
three days, during which Father Serra suffered 



THE Af/S.S/().\S or Af.TA C.I f. //•'() /^.\ /.I. 



393 



"I 



• i ic — fBTpi-i -T -.^.- 














MISSION OF SAN Bl'ENAM- N 1 ' <■ > 

excruciatingly from an injury lo one ol his 
legs, so that at times he coukl neither walk 
nor ride. 

The first Mission of Upper California was 
founded at San Diego, and before the Ia|)se 
of a fortnight a second expedition was organ- 
ized, under Don Ciaspar de Portola, which was 
directed to proceed up the coast as far as Mon- 
terey and to found a Mission there. Monterey 
was also a place made known to Spanish 
geographers by Vizcayno's voyage of 1602, in 
his report of which he had described it in glow- 
ing terms as a magnificent harbor, fit to shelter 
the navies of the world. Fathers Juan Crespi 
and Francisco (lome/ were the chaplains of 
this expedition, which was also tcj have the 
( ociperation of the two schooners, which were 
directed to the .same destination. 

How this land expedition toiled up the coast 
from .San Diego, of its "moving accidents by 
flood and field, of hairbreadth '.scapes, .... 
of antres vast and deserts idle, rough (piarries, 
rocks and hills," of how in its search for Mon- 
terey it stumbled on the bay of San Francisco 
anfl first made known to civilized man the 
garden of the present State of California, I have 
related elsewlieie and will not here repeat. 
Suffice it to .say, that having penetrated as far 
up the coast and over the Coast Range as to 
look down from the i rest over what is now 
Searsville on the broad expanse of the Santa 
( Mara Valley, and on the great estuary which its 
historian des( ribed as a " Mediterranean sea," 
the expedition, compelled by the approach of 
winter, the scarcity of food, and the increa.sing 
hostility ofthe aborigines, turned on the i ithof 
November to retrace its steps \o San Diego. 

On again reaching Point I'inos and the sup- 
posed place of the bay of Monterey, nearly a 
Vol.. Xl.l.— 52. 



'♦rr 





















rt'LI-IT AND CONFKSSIONAL OF SA.N l<' 



'V 



394 



THE MISSIONS OF ALTA CALIFORNIA. 



fortnight was devoted to a vigorous exploration 
of the rugged coast in search of the magnificent 
port described by Vizcayno, but in vain. The 
locahty did not correspond in any degree to 
the traveler's glowing description of it. Failing 
to discover the harbor they were looking for, the 
leaders concluded it had been either destroyed 
by some convulsion of nature, or filled with 
silt, and so obliterated. They erected a large 
wooden cross at the north and another at the 
south side of Point Pinos as a memorial of their 
visit, and for the purpose of attracting the at- 
tention of the expedition by sea, which had 
been despatched to cooperate with them. On 
the cross erected at the south side was cut the 
legend : " Dig at the foot of this and you will 
find a writing"; and at its foot accordingly 



Cisco on the iith of November, passed Point Ano 
Nuevo on the 19th, and reached this point and har- 
bor of Pinos on the 27th of the same month. From 
that d-ite until the present, qth of December, we 
have used every effort to find the bay of Monterey, 
searching the coast thoroughly notwithstanding its 
ruggedness, but in vain. At last undeceived, and 
despairing of finding it after so many efforts, suffer- 
ings, and labors, and having left of all our provisions 
but fourteen small sacks of flour, we leave this 
place to-day for San Diego. I beg of Almighty 
God to guide it, and for you, traveler, who may read 
this, that he may guide you to the harbor of eternal 
salvation. 

Done in this harbor of Pinos, the 9th of Decem- 
ber, 1769. 

Note. — That Don Michael Constanzo, the engi- 
neer, observed the latitude of various places on the 
coast, and the same are as follows. 










■y^.^,'f'K^^~'%: 



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"■*f^-^«'"^^^.V^,-.: 



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•«■ r.v./!.V •".' 




IT 



2S jj jSi'Tiw^^'"^ "^ 



MISSION OF SAN MIGUEL, SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY. 



they buried a brief account of their journey. 
Its text is set forth in the diary of Father Crespi 
as follows : 

The overland expedition which left Sin Diego on 
the 14th of July, 1769, under the command of Don 
Caspar de Portola, Governor of California, reached the 
channel of Santa Barbara on the 9th of August and 
passed Point Concepcion on the 27th of the same 
month. It arrived at the Sierra de Santa Lucia on 
the 13th of September, entered thiit range of moun- 
tains on the 17th of the same month, and emerged 
from it on the ist of October. On the same day 
caught sight of Point Pinos and the harbors on its 
north and south sides without discovering any in- 
dications or landmarks of the bay of Monterey. 
Determined to push on farther in search of it, and on 
the 30th of October got sight of Point Reyes and 
the Farallones at the bay of San Francisco,! which 
are seven in number. The expedition strove to 
reach Point Reyes, but was hindered by an immense 
arm of the sea, which, extending to a great distance 
inland, compelled it to make an enormous circuit 
for that purpose. In consequence of this and other 
difficulties, the greatest of all being the absolute 
want of food, the expedition was compelled to turn 
back, believing that it must have passed the harbor 
ot Monterey without discovering it. 

Started on return from the estuary of San Fran- 

1 The bay of San Francisco of the old Spanish geog- 
raphers and navigators was what we now call " Sir 
Francis Drake's Bay." 



Here follow the latitudes of various points, 
after which the letter continues : 

If the commanders of the schooners, either 
the San Jose or the Principe, should reach this 
place within a few days after this date, on learning 
the contents of this writing, and the distressed con- 
dition of this expedition, we beseech them to follow 
the coast closely towards San Diego, so that, if we 
should be happy enough to catch sight of them, we 
may be able by signals of flags or firearms to apprise 
them where succor and provisions may reach us. 

" Glory be to God," says the pious chroni- 
cler, " the cross was erected on a little hillock, 
close to the beach of the small harbor on the 
south side of Point Pinos, and at its foot we 
buried the letter." 

The cross erected at the north side of the 
Point bore the simple inscription, cut on its 
transverse arm with a razor : " The overland 
expedition from San Diego returned from this 
place on the 9th of December, 1769, starving." 

Their prayer for succor was in vain ; it 
never reached those to whom it was ad- 
dressed. The schooners, after beating up the 
coast as far as the latitude of Monterey, were 
driven back by adverse winds, and, after 
months of fruitless effort to make port there, 
returned to San Diego, arriving just in time 



THE MISSIOXS OF ALTA CALIFORNIA. 



395 



to relieve the infant colony from starvation. The tion in California. There wcrcinterred there- 
land party plodded its weary way down the mains of lathers J unipero Serra, Juan Crespi, 
coast,encounteringsic:kness,surt'cring, privation, and Rafael Verger. 

and occasionally death, until on the 21st of San Diego and Monterey served to mark 

January, 1770,115 surviving members reached the extremes of the first Spani.sh occupancy; 



if^ 




'% 






San Diego, whence it had set out 
six months and iwclvedays before. 

The eftbrt at missionary colo- 
nization was not, however, aban- 
doned. In 1770 another expe- 
dition moved up the coast, fol- 
lowing the track of the first 
ex])lorers, whose diary was their 
guide, and founded the Mission 
of San Carlos on the bay of Ki 
Monterey, close to which was ' 
established the jiresiilio of the 
same name. The place first se- 
lected proved unsuitable for the 
site of a Mission, and before the 
close of 177 1 the estai)lishment 
was removed a few miles to the 
southward and j)lanted on the 
banks of the Carmel River, over- 
looking the charming little ])ay 
of the same name. This new 
foundation was called " Kl Car- 
melo." The presidio retained its 
site and subse<iuently became the 
capital city of the dejjartment. 

Monterey has become in our 
day a famous watering-place fre- 
(juented by visitors from the ends 
of the earth, and the an<ient Mis- 
sion, HI Carmelo, now little better 

than a ruin, continues to attract the attention the interval was filleil up and the area of mis- 
of travelers from its picturestjue site and from sionary c()n<iuest gradually extended by other 
the fact that it contains the remains of the similar establishments. The names of these 
venerable men whose pious efforts created the institutions, founded in rapid succession, are 
Missions and laiil the foumlations of civiliza- as follows : 




\ 







MI&SION OF SANTA BARBAKA. 



39^ 



THE MISSIONS OF AITA CAIIFORNIA. 



\1"i\. — San Gabriel, San Fernando, San Antonio. 

1772. — San Luis Obispo. 

1776. — SanJuanCapistrano,SanFranciscodeAssisi. 

1777. — Santa Clara. 

1782. — San Buenaventura. 

1786. — Santa Barbara. 

1787. — La Purissima. 

J791. — La Soledad, and Santa Cruz. 

1797. — Sanjuan Bautista, San Jose, San Miguel. 

1798. — San Luis Rey. 

1802. — Santa Ynez. 

After this missionary efforts seem to have 
relaxed, but a revival at a later date led to 
the foundation of San Rafael in 181 7, and 



The Mission building is in the form of a hollow 
square of about one hundred and fifty yards front, 
along which a gallery extends. The church forms 
one of the wings. The edifice, a single story in 
height, is elevated a few feet above the ground. 
In the interior is a court adorned with a fountain 
and planted with trees, on the corridor extending 
around which open the apartments of the friars and 
the major-domo as well as those used for work- 
shops, schoolrooms, and storehouses, and thecliam- 
bers set apart for the accommodation of travelers 
and guests. 

The male and female infirmaries, as well as the 
schoolrooms, are placed in tiie most quiet portions 
of the premises. The young Indian girls occupy a 










1 u, -^ 



San Francisco Solano in 1823. 
Sonoma, at which this last was 
located, was as far north as the 
missionaries penetrated. 

These Missions were, of course, 
designed for the instruction of the 
rude aborigines in the truths of 
Christianity and in the arts of civi- 
lized life. The scheme of life and 
discipline was devised by the J esuits, 
who in the sixteenth and seven- 
teenth centuries organized and car- 
ried on the most extensive system 
of missions in every quarter of the 
heathen and pagan world. India, 
China, Japan, both coasts of Africa, 
a large part of Central Asia, and 
both North and South America 
were the scenes of their indefatiga- 
ble labors. 

The Franciscans, who succeeded the Jesuits 
in California, followed their system. In order to 
induce the Indians to abandon their nomadic 
tribal life, and to exchange their reliance for 
food on the fruits of the chase and the spon- 
taneous products of the forest for the ways 
of civilized men, they were at first supplied 
by the missionaries with food and clothing 
and afterwards taught to cultivate the earth 
and support themselves. Timber was felled 
wherever accessible and transported to a suit- 
able site, where, with unburned brick and 
tiles, the Mission church and buildings were 
erected. The following description of San Luis 
Rey, condensed from the account of an intel- 
ligent traveler who saw it in its palmy days, 
will con\'ey a fair idea of the establishments 
of which it was a tyj)e. 




^<^[^.f/(^ 



V-- 






Vif 




mg^ 



MISSION AND BELLS OF SAN GABRIEL, NEAR LOS ANGELES. 

set of apartments secluded from the rest and com- 
monly called the "nunnery," and they themselves 
are fimiliariy styled the " nuns." They are thus 
entirely protected from intrusion, and, being placed 
under the guardiansliip of staid and trustworthy 
matrons of their own race, are taught to spin and 
weave wool, flax, and cotton, and do not leave the 
nunnery imtil marriageable. 

The Indian children attend the same schools with 
those of the white colonists, and are educated witii 
them. Those who exhibitthe most talentare taiiglit 
some music, as the plain ciiant of the church, as well 
as the violin, flute, horn, violoncello, and other instru- 
ments. Such as attain superior proficiency, either 
as carpenters, smiths, or even agricultural laborers, 
are made foremen, by the name of alcaldes, and 
placed in charge of the other workmen. 

Two ecclesiastics are stationed at each Mission ; 
the elder is charged with tiie internal administra- 
tion and the duty of religious instruction, the 



THE .\f/SS/0\S 01- ALT.t CALIFORXI.l. 



397 



^sr^ . --». 




MISSION OF SAN FERNANDO, UlS ANGELES. 

younger, with the direction of the agricultural 
.Mul niech;inii.":il labor. The Franciscans as- 
•-iduoiisly cultivate the stuJy of tiie Indian dia- 
lects, of which they have compiled dictionaries 
and grammars, some of which are still extant. 
Industry is inculcated and encouraged by 
the constant example of the Fathers, who are 
always the first to put their hands to the 
work ; and considering the meagerness of their 
resources, and the absence of European labor, 
the works they haveexecuted with theaidof un- 
killed savages, of low intelligence, aremarvels 
of architecture and mechanical skill. These 
comprise mills, machinery, bridges, roads, 
and canals for irrigation, besides extensive 
agricultural lalwrs. For the erection of nearly 
all the Mission buildings large beams had to 
be transported from the mountains eight and 
ten leagues off, and the Indians taught to 
burn lime, cut stone, make bricks, tiles, etc. 
Opposite the Mission building is usually a 
guard-house lorlodging theescort of the priests, 
consisting of four cavalry soldiers, under com- 
mand of a sergeant, who act as couriers, carry- 
ingcorrespondeiice and orders from one Mission 
to another, besides protecting the Mission from 
the incursions of hostile Indians. 




Hr«- 



CLOISTERS AND BELL OF SAN FERNANDO. 



'I'hc followinLj is a summary of the nnliiiary 
ilay's work at a Mission. .\t sunrise the bell innocent amu.seinent. 'I'heir iliet consistcil of 
mounded for the Angelas and the Indian.s as- fresh beef or mutton in abundance, with vege- 
>eml)Ied in the diapel, where they attendeil tal)les and tortillas made of Hour or eom-meal. 
:norning prayers and mass and recx'ivetl a They made drinks of the .same ingredients, 
^hort religious instruction. Then came break- whieh were caIle»l<?/r'/<rand////<V<' respectively, 
last, after which, distributed in squads as oc- Their dress consisted of a shirt of linen, a pair 
<asion required, ihev repaireil to their work. .\t of pantaloons, and a woolen smoik. The al- 
ii A. M. they ate dinner, and after that restetl caldes and head workmen had also t loth 
until 2 I'. M. Work was then resumed, and con- clothes like those of the Spanianls ; the women 
tinned until an hour before sunset, when the received ever)" year two changes of under- 
l>ell again tolled for the .\ngelus. .\fter |>rayers clothing, a smock, and a new gown, 
and the rosary the Indians supped, and then The Indians of California were not the 
were free to take part in a dance or some such sturdy warlike race of the ea.stern si<le of the 



398 



THE MISSIONS OF ALTA CAIIFORNIA. 



continent, nor did they possess the intelligence to ships visiting the coast. From the proceeds 
or partial civilization of the natives of the the friars distributed to the Indians handker- 
tableland of Mexico. They were originally of chiefs, clothing, tobacco, rosaries, trinkets, etc., 
low intelligence and brutish habits. Besides and employed the surplus profits in the embel- 
what they obtained from fishing and hunting — lishment of the churches, the purchase of mu- 
in which they do not appear to have been spe- sical instruments, pictures, ornaments for the 
cially dexterous — their food consisted largely altar, etc. Where lands were found suitable 
of acorns, pine nuts, and the like, and their for the purpose the fathers established out- 
clothing was practically ;///. Though neither lying farms as appurtenances of the pnrticu- 
as subtle nor as fierce as the Iroquois, Algon- lar Mission on which they were made to 
quins, and Hurons of Canada, with whom depend. At these were gathered considerable 
Parkman's brilliant pages have made us fa- colonies of civilized Indians selected from the 
miliar, they were not wanting in cunning, most reliable. 

treachery, or ferocity, and on more than one Besides instructing the natives and inci- 
occasion the missionaries sealed their faith dentally fulfilling the duties of parochial clergy, 
with their blood — a sacrifice from which, to the Missions extended a bountiful hospitality 
their honor be it said, the Franciscans never to all travelers and wayfiirers. Planted at in- 
flinched, any more than the followers of Ig- tervals of about a day's journey, on the nat- 
natius. ural route of travel along the coast, they 

As conversions made progress among the became the usual resting-place for all travelers 
natives, and the young people, instructed from in either direction. Horses were the only means 
their childhood, came to maturity, they were of locomotion, and at the end of his hard day's 
taught various industries, besides farming, ride the weary traveler stopped at the door of 
Ordinary smith's and carpenter's work they the Mission building as naturally, and with as 
learned to do fairly well ; their saddlery was little thought of intrusion, as one might now 
of a superior sort, and is still sought for. As at a public hotel. Throwing his rein to an 
weavers, tailors, and shoemakers they would Indian m-riero, he was received by the mis- 
sionary priest, or in 
his absence by the 
sacristan, with the 
patriarchal hospi- 
tality that Abra- 
ham extended to 
Lot. A bath was 
provided, followed 
by a plentiful meal 
and a comfortable 
bed. He was at 
liberty to stay as 
long as his conven- 
ience required, and 
on leaving was pro- 
vided with a fresh 
horse and directions, 
or, if needed, aguide, 
for his further jour- 
ney. Perhaps it is a 
tradition from these 
early days, but 
travelers still speak 

not perhaps have obtained recognition in Paris, kindly of the hospitality of Cahfornia. 
London, or New York, but they made ser- o • , , , 

viceable blankets, serapes, cloth, and shoes, and ^"'^'^ '" '^"^'^'"^ '''^'^^■ 

I have seen creditable specimens of their work The Missions in this State were in all twenty- 
in silver. Domestic animals were introduced one. Hiey may be said to have attained their 
and they increased with astonishing rapidity, maximum of prosperity during the first quar- 
and in the care and management of them the ter of the present century. The Indian tribes 
Indians became very dexterous and serviceable of the coast, as far north as Sonoma, had by 
-— in fact, some of the most skillful horsemen that time been reduced to pupilage at the va- 
in the world. rious establishments described, and those of the 
Hides, tallow, grain, wine, and oil were sold younger generations had been sufficiently in- 




PHESENT CHAPEL OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO. 



THE MISSrOXS OF AI.'I'A LAJ.UORXIA. 



399 



structed in the sinij)lc arts of domestic life not 
only to carry on the various industries men- 
tioned, hut to make useful servants to the ran- 
cheros and white settlers, whose numbers, 
rec ruited from dis( harged and su|)erannuate<I 
soltliers, a few voluntary — and some involun- 



and sale. The cattle were valued mainly for 
their hiiles and tallow, whi< h with soap and 
(tther exportable jiroducts were sold to vessels 
trading along the coast, and |)aid for in dry- 
goods, (utlery,tof)ls,<U)thing, etc. The archives 
contain a good deal of statistical information as 



Cf.. 




-»> 



^^ 



tary — immigrants from Mexico, 
occasional trappers, runaway sail- "^ ~""' 

ors, or other adventurous foreigners, — 

quos ratio dcdcrat aiit J'ors objecerai, hatl 
by this time become sufticiently consider- 
able to create a demantl for such services. 
There were still wild tribes in the mountains, 
to the north and east, but they gave little 
trouble, and the friars seem to have lost the 
spirit of missionary enteri)rise which char- 
acteri/ed the companions and immediate 
successors of Father Junipero, and settled 
down to a quiet life among their neophytes 
and white neighbors, producing from the 
soil all the neces.saries and many of the sim- 
ple luxuries of life, and accumulating, for the 
Indian coinmunities they governed, pastoral 
wealth, in the shape of countless herds of 
cattle, horses, sheej), goats, an<! swine. 

The grain raised on the Mission ranches was 
threshed out, just as in Kgypt and Mesopo- 
tamia twenty-five hundred or three thousand 
years ago, by spreading it on the ground and 
turning in a band of horses to trample it. A 
rude mill, generally turned by hand or by horse- 
power, furnished Hour, though at two or three 
of the Mis-sions water-power was utilizetl for 
this purpose. At each Mission gardens and 
orchards were inclosed, wherein, besides or- 
dinary vegetables, fruits of various sorts were 
cultivated, including the fig, the orange, the 
olive, and the vine. The last two gave the mis- 
sionaries oil an<l wine in abundance, for use 



^ 



'^'■-.j^^sn^ 




*.- U- 



X^ 



■A\ 



tT 




Jk 



,^ 



4'*^ 



MISSION OF SAN Jl'AN CAI'ISTRANO. 

to Mission products, but I am not aware that 
it has ever been tabulatetl. An idea of them 
may be formed from the statement that in the 
year 1820 the Mission cattle are cpioted at 
140,000 head ; the horses at iS,ooo, the sheep 
at 190,000, etc. The average annual jiroduct 
of grain, from 181 1 to 1820, is given at over 
1 13,000 bushels. 

liut the increase of white settlers, bringing 
with them the wants, ambitions, and freeilom 
of modem lite, was incompatible with the con- 
tinued success of institutions based, as the 
Missions were, on j)atemal authority. The In- 
dians were infants in all respects except age 
and capacity for evil; and the settlers were 
subject to no restraints except those of the 
civil authority, which was of the weakest kind. 



4O0 



THE MISSIONS OF ALTA CALIFORNIA. 



Contact and intercourse with them corrupted 
the Indians and relaxed the bonds of disci- 
phne among them. Moreover the broad acres 
and the vast herds of the Missions excited the 
cupidity of the settlers, who did not regard 
the property of the friars and Indians in the 
same light as that of white people. Under 
these influences the Mexican congress, in 
1833, passed a law for secularizing the Mis- 
sions, converting them into parishes, repla- 
cing the missionary priests by curates, and 
emancipating the Indians from their pupilage 
to the Church. Administrators were to be ap- 



malign, that the Government became alarmed 
and suspended the operation of the law. But 
it was too late ; the mischief had been accom- 
plished and the establishments thenceforth vis- 
ibly decayed. A traveler of 1840-41 says that 
at the Mission of San Jose as late as 1837 
Father Gonzales turned over to the adminis- 
trators 17,000 head of cattle, of which as many 
as 8000 remained unappropriated in 1840, as 
well as 200 horses and 9000 sheep, while four 
hundred Indians remained even at that late 
day gathered about the Mission. He was also 
much interested by a school, still in existence, 




pointed for the temporalities of the Missions, 
the proceeds of which, after a small allowance 
for the maintenance of the priest and the 
charges of public worship, were to be applied 
to public purposes. 

Under this law the greedy politicians of the 
day were enabled to plunder the Missions pretty 
nearly to their heart's content. Administrators 
were appointed, who administered away the 
tangible property in favor of themselves and 
their friends with marvelous industry and ce- 
lerity. People whose names were held in esteem 
among the colonists, members of the " first 
families," leaders in pubhc opinion and public 
affairs, are recorded as having despoiled the 
Missions of their lands and cattle l^y wholesale. 
The desolation wrought was so rapid and com- 
plete, and its effects on the Indian population so 



where sixty Indian children surprised him by 
their progress in elementary studies, especially 
arithmetic. In 1834 (after the secularization) 
San Luis Rey had an Indian population of 
3500 and possessed over 24,000 cattle, 10,000 
horses, and 100,000 sheep. It harvested 14,000 
fanegas of grain and 200 barrels of wine. In the 
same year San Jose had 2300 neophytes, 20,000 
cattle, 11,000 horses, and 19,000 sheep, and 
harvested 10,000 fanegas of grain and 60 bar- 
rels of wine. 

The ruin of the Missions was completed by 
the American conquest. The few remaining 
Indians were speedily driven or enticed away, 
for the rough frontiersmen who came over the 
plains knew nothing of missionary friars or civ- 
ilized Indians ; they came here to squat on pub- 
lic land and respected no possession beyond 160 



////:• .WSS/OXS OF A 1. 1. 1 C \l.IlORX/A. 



401 



y< 



i 







' •"^- 



V 







lS,i" 



^1.-.^ 



TIIK MISSION OP SAN l.CIS KHV, SAN DIROf) COl'NTY. 

acres, ami that (ml\ in the liaiuls of one fa- 
miliar with the Mnglisli language and modern 
weapons. None of the estahlisliments retains 
its original ( haracter. Where pt^jnilation has 
grown up around the site, as at Santa Clara, 
San Francisco, and San Rafael, they became 
parish churches. At other places s(iuatters 
took po.ssession of them, extruding priest and 
mayor-domo impartially, and in more than one 
case even the churches were sacrilegiously de- 
graded to the use of stables and the like. In 
others many parts of the buildings were de- 
molished for the sake of the timber, tiles, and 
other building material they afforded. 

The most extensive of the old establishments 
was that of San Luis Rey. I visited it with a 
( ompanion in the summer of 1862. We left 
San Juan C'apistranij at an earl) hour, and 
reached San Luis at about 2 i*. M., without 
meantime meeting a 
human being or seeing 
a house or a fence. 
Our way had taken us 
along a faintly marked 
wagon trail in the rug- 
ged foothills of the 
Sierra, through tangled 
rhemisal and under- 
brush, crossed by many 
steep barrancas, which 
out of California would 
scarce be deemed prac- 
ticable for wheels. Af- 
ter many hours of this 
monotonous travel we 
suddenly emerged from 
the chain of hills to the 
j)rosi)ect of a charming 
valley, through whicli 
meanderetl a little 
stream of crystal water, 
Vou Xll— 53- 



which after many windings found its way to 
the sea, which then (Opened on our sight, bound- 
ing the western hori/on. In the middle of the 
valley, on a slight elevation, rose the towers of 
the old church, the red-tiled roof of which, and 
of the adjoining buildings of the ancient .Mis- 
sion, shone bright and ruildy in the glare of 
an almost tropical sun. 

The landscajie was magnificent, anil we 
paused a short time to enjoy it before hasten- 
ing on to examine the spot. The walls of the 
(juadrangle remained in fair condition, and 
the graveled approach to the main entrance 
apjjeared so neat that I was persuaded it had 
lately been swept, and that I should find some 
inhabitants within. I effecteil an entrance 
witiioutmuch ditficully.and wandered through 
the interior rooms and corridors seari hing fur 
the aged sacristan my imagination had sug- 
gested ; but I searched in vain. No shadow- 
was cast there except my own ; I hearil no sound 
but the echo of my own footsteps. The inte- 



i—r 







t-7 



IMTmHIOil OF 



OMsro. 



402 



THE MISSIONS OF ALTA CALIFORNIA. 




ii,wiiV.J^wi>.iii*inar«ii(lrtliHMSi^^ 



Ppl^ll&li, 





SANTA YNEZ, SANTA BARBARA COUNTY. 



nor court, once a garden, bright with flowers 
and the lustrous leaves of the orange and 
lemon tree, was rank with weeds and sponta- 
neous vegetation ; the fountain was dried up, 
and the walls which confined its basin split 
by the swelling roots of neglected and over- 
grown trees. Great spider webs hung from 
the columns of the corridor, and the stillness 
was broken only by the drowsy hum of dragon- 
flies and humming-birds. I entered the ven- 
erable old church, and while endeavoring to 
accustom my eyes to the dim, uncertain light 
which shrouded its interior I was disturbed 
by the startled cry and hasty flight of an enor- 
mous owl, which left its perch over where the 
high altar had stood and rustled over to a 
window at the opposite end. I ascended one 
of the towers to the belfry, where I provoked 
another flight of unclean birds. The old chime 
of bells still hung there inscribed with the 
maker's name and " Boston, 1820," telling 
plainly of the intercourse of the old mission- 
aries with the whaling fleets and the hide 
drogers which half a century ago wintered on 
the coast. Probably the order for these bells 
had been given in 1818, and they had been 
received, in pursuance of it, in 1821 or 1822. 
There was no express in those days between 
Boston and California ; the journey was made 
via Cape Horn, and a couple of years elapsed 
between the departure and the return of a 
vessel. The Mission gardens, particularly that 



in front of the main building, retained many 
traces of former beauty. But the hedgerows, 
once carefully trimmed, now grown rank and 
wild ; the old rustic seats crumbling to decay ; 
the vines and fruit trees, which for want of 
pruning had ceased to produce; and the garden 
flowers growing neglectedly — all told of decay 
and ruin. From the remains of the fountain 
two clear streams of water still issued, and from 
the little rivulet they formed, bordered with 
cress as green as an emerald, a lazy fish looked 
deliberately up at me without moving — so un- 
accustomed to man as not to fear him. Just 
before the American conquest this Mission 
had harbored an industrious Indian popula- 
tion of several thousand. It had been occu- 
pied by our troops as a military post during 
the Mexican war and for some time after its 
close. When it ceased to be so used the 
Government, as I have heard General Beale 
say, caused an estimate to be made of the 
expense of repairing and restoring it to its 
former condition. The figures were two mil- 
lions of dollars, and the project of repairing 
was, of course, given over. 

It stands there to-day, magnificent, even in 
its ruins, a monument of the piety, devotion, 
industry, and disinterestedness of the vener- 
able monks who wear the habit and cord of 
St. Francis, and who were the first colonists 
of Alta California. 

John T. Doyle. 







A FAMILY CHAPEL (CAMULOS). 



CAI.IFOKNIANA. 



467 



"Yes, Jonathan Rngcp;," stammcrrd Mr. There was a silence, which I intemi|>te<l. 

Meech, grasping his hand with an agitated " You can see the old folks," I announced, 

heartiness ; " they expected you all along ; yes, jjlanting myself before him. " I saw them just 

Jonathan." nf)w, in the front room. They 've lain down 

I'he smart of an honest pity lent a curious and covered up their face.s to go bye-byes, but 

awkwardness to Mr. Beech's attitude, as he Mrs. Beech says they 'vc gone to heaven," I 

stood divided between hospitality and appre- ended, deljatingly. 

hension. Mrs. Beech, with a smothered cry, hid her 

The stranger shrank slightly from the cold face in her apron, and rocked her body back 

wind, and shivered again, as if with a deeper and forth. The sailor started, and made an un- 



• hill. 

•• 1 want to see the old folks ; I want my 
mother ! " he stammered bruskly, with an 
eagerness that struggled pitifully with shame. 



certain step. .Mr. Beet h caught him, and drew 
him within, and .Sally and I followed him with 
our eyes a.s the keeper oj>ened the do(jr of the 
silent room for him and closed it after him. 

Esther Bcnioit Carpenter. 



CALIFORXIAXA. 



A California Lion and a Pirate. 

[The lady M.iria .\ntonia Pico, who afterwards he- 
came the mother of Cleneral .Manuel Castro and Don 
Juan \\. Castro, was liorn in .Monterey, in i8o2. She 
told to her chililrcn and grandchildren the following 
story of the arrival of the privateer Flouchard, who 
frightened all the Sj»anish settlers in 181S. The story 
is given here exactly as taken by me from the lips of 
an old .Spanish woman in Castroville, who had often 
heard it related by Mrs. Castro, the mother of the 
general. — Ch.vri.es Howard Shi.v.v.] 

It was about the middle of November, 1818, and I 
was sixteen years of age. A vessel brought the report 
to Monterey that a whole fleet of pirates were coming. 
Every one, in great fright, commenced to move and 
hide the most valuable things. Carts were used to 
carry them to the ranches. My father was not at 
home, but my mother and I packed many articles in 
rawhide bags, to send them twelve miles inland to the 
caiiiida pricta, or black ravine. My brother, sister, and 
myselfwent with the carls; mother was locomc next day, 
with a servant. Night came on before we fairly started, 
and it began to rain, for it was late in the year, and the 
first frosts were in the deeper canons. As wc went on 
the rain grew worse ; the oxen wanted to turn almnt 
because of the rain in their faces, but we three children 
pushed on to carry out our mother's onlcrs. About 
midnight we reache<l a large, broken oak tree where our 
mother had told us to camp. We let the oxen loose 
to graze, and crawled umlcr the carl, wet to the skin. 

My little sister was afraid of bears in the chaparral. 
I tried to comfort her, but she would not listen ; 
she wa-s sure wc would be eaten up, and at l.iii her 
jiersistence frightened my little brother till he cried 
out. In an hour or so they went to sleep l>eside me, 
but I l.-»y awake and wished that my father and the 
men-servants had l>eei- at home. They were all in the 
hills, gathering up the cattle. Though I had been over 
the road many times, it h.-id never before sccmc<l at all 
<lani;erous. While I was thinking of these things a 
wild, strange noise was heard appro.iching, and oneof 
our oxen, running through the thicket, fell over the 



tongue of the cart, rose, ran a little way off, and again 
fell, with a scream. I knew that something must have 
attacked the animals ; I Ixflieved it was a big bear. 
We heard the other ox rushing into a gulch, and wc 
all three sat up and said our prayers to the saints, to 
be delivered from El I'eroz, which was the name the 
hunters had given to a very large and dangerous grizzly 
that was known to roam about this canon of the broken 
oak. I did not remcmljcr it until we had campcl 
there, or indeed until the oxen made such an uproar, 
but now I was very sure it was nothing but El Fi-tvt. 
The morning was dawning when this happened, and 
in a few minutes I could see a hundred feet down the 
canon. An indistinct form began to be revealed here, 
and I hushed the children to watch and listen. There, 
as we soon saw, was a large California lion, or puma, 
pulling the meat from one of our oxen. Then I ho|ic<i 
that mother, and Josi-, the peon, might soon come along 
the trail. Jos6, who carried a gun, and was a bra%"c man, 
would kill the wild animal, but we could sec no one to 
hi'lp us. I whisperc<l to the others to lie still, iK-cause 
wc had no place to hide in, nor was it any use lo try 
to climb a tree, for the California liOn will climb like 
a cat. So we saw ihc lion finish his meal on our ox. 
It grew very light, near sunrise, before he took any 
notice of us, where we sat under the ox-cart. A 
as he saw us he walked up very close, with a . 
wondering expression on his face, and went all at>out 
the cart, looking us over, and ' ' iid. 

We sat close and had our ari; . i>ut 

we did not say a word. He then came up so close that 
I felt his brc-ith on me. and finally he put his nose 
ag.ainst my ankle. I h.iil no stockings on, only home- 
maile shoes, and his nose felt very strange, and made 
me expect to l>e eaten up at once. Hut I thought it 
liest to lie still, and not cry out. After what seemed a 
long time, the lion went Ixick and lay down by the 
dead ox, al)out a hundred feet distant, keeping his eyes 
on us roost of the time. He sometimes walked around 
the ox ; then he went off a little way to a spring ; then 
he came Ivick and walked around the cart. .\l last he 
lay down again by the ox, shut his eyes, and seemed 



468 



CALIFORNIANA. 



asleep. The sun was now high, and we were very 
hungry and thirsty, but when we moved a little to rest 
our limbs the lion opened his eyes and looked very bad. 

We lay there under tlie cart all the morning, and 
until about the middle of the afternoon, and the lion 
lay under the shade of a tree, watched us, ate some 
more beef, and went to the spring as often as he chose. 
Then about three o'clock mother and Jos6, the peon, 
came down from the coast way, and when they were 
on the ridge they could look into the canon and see 
the whole situation at a glance — the lion, the dead ox, 
the cart, and the three of us huddled together under it. 
Jose ran forward and fired two shots, wounding the 
lion, but he got away in the rocks. 

Since one of our oxen was dead, and the other had 
escaped, we hid our goods as best we could in the 
bushes. Then mother told me, as we made a camp, 
that she had forgotten a family book, with writing of 
her father's in it. It was on a shelf in the house, and 
she wanted to ride back to obtain it. I told her that I 
was not afraid to go ; so, after we had our meal, 
I mounted her horse, and galloped off for Monterey. 
After a little time I heard a cannon shot, then another, 
and then a great many. I thought that now the pirates 
had come, and would perhaps land, and Imrn the town 
and our house ; so I rode faster. At last I reached the 
lomita near the Plaza de Dona Brigida, and there were 
boats and men on the beach. Some of the houses were 
on fire, and that seemed dreadful. I turned a little and 
rode across the ridge, and down a canon to our own 
house, which was about a mile from the beach, and I 
ran in and found the old book where mother said, and 
wrapped it in a piece of calfskin to tie behind the sad- 
dle. But when I went out of the door I saw my horse 
running off, frightened at tiie noise of the firing. 

It was very hard to know v.liat to do. There was 
no other horse at the house — all had been turned 
loose. I ran over a little hill to the next ranch house, 
but all the people had gone. Then the firing stopped, 
and pretty soon I heard a band of music, and the next 
minute a man dashed by on horseback and shouted 
to me that Ignacio Vallejo was a prisoner and that all 
the people had fled. I determined to catch a horse 
somehow, but just as I was planning how it might be 
done two men came out of the bushes and spoke to 
me. They were armed strangers, and very wild, so I 
fell on my knees and prayed them to do me no harm. 
One of them asked me my name, and why I was there ; 
so I told him and showed the book, but I did not 
reveal the course to our other ranch. He laughed and 
said I was a good girl, and he sent his man to catch 
my horse. Then he dismounted while I still knelt 
there by the doorway of the deserted adobe, hardly 
believing my own eyes, and he came up to me and 
kissed me on the forehead and called me Seiiorita, 
which frightened me very much. Then the man came 
up with my horse, and I looked at the leader of the 
two, and asked .what he was going to do with me ? 

He looked at me and swore a great oath. " My 
girl," he said, " you are more brave than some of your 
people were on the beach when we landed. You shall 
go back." He put me on my horse, and kissed my 
hand, and said, " Ride fast ; there are others of Bou- 
chard's men who would not treat you so well." I 
thanked him briefly, and he added as he let go the bridle 
that his name was Pedro Condre, and that he already 



had two wives on board his ship, or he would have taken 
me there. This last saying made me ride in great ter- 
ror and with frightful speed down the gulches and up 
the hills. When I reached mother's camp I was cry- 
ing, and so terribly excited that I could not say any- 
thing but " Hasten, hasten ! " We left all our things 
hidden in the bushes, and went on to the Salinas. V\'e 
met many families of fugitives. For nearly two weeks 
we lived in huts near the river, but early in December 
the frightened people began to move back to Monterey. 
The padres had the floors and walls of all the 
houses sprinkled with holy water before any one 
would live there again. At Christmas time the good 
padre called me out before the congregation and gave 
me a gold cross because of what he called my courage 
with the lion and with the pirate. It does not seem to 
me that I was very brave, for I only took things as 
they happened, but I was very much pleased with the 
cross and the words of praise. 

[After the narrative of the late 

Maj-ia Antonia Castro. '\ 

A Carnival Ball at Monterey in 1829.1 

The first carnival ball that I ever attended took place 
near Monterey about 1829, when I was Seiiorita 
Brigida Canes. I do not remember my age at the 
time, but I think I was about eighteen. I was invited 
by a friend in Monterey to visit her, as she had ar- 
ranged to give a carnival ball, as was the custom of 
the country. I left my home with the usual attendants 
at about eleven o'clock the day before, for our ranch 
was many miles distant. We met numbers of persons 
going to the party, all on horseback, and full of gaiety 
and youthfulness such as only a race that lives out- 
doors in such a climate as California, and without cares 
or troubles, can show. The pranks of the gentlemen 
were so numerous and so amusing that it makes me 
laugh now to think of them. Every one could ride per- 
fectly, and could pick up a leaf or a flower from the 
ground as he galloped past. Good riding was ex- 
pected as a matter of course. On this occasion they 
all had red, black, and green paint (for the most part 
colored earths, powdered), and cascarones (egg-shells 
filled with finely cut gold and silver paper), and vials 
of different colored liquids, all harmless. It was the 
great sport to ride against each other, each endeavor- 
ing to stain his opponent's face while himself escap- 
ing. As we neared Monterey the carnival spirit grew 
wilder, and the ladies' dresses and faces suffered, but 
we all took it in good part. 

On our arrival at the ranch near Monterey where 
the festivities took place we found every one already 
dancing. The assembled guests, rushing to us, lifted 
us from our horses and led us in, smearing our faces 
with more paint and breaking cascarones on our heads 
with much laughter, while we defended ourselves in 
the same manner. It was my first experience of so 
wild a scene, and the red, green, and black paint on my 
face made me uglier than a Yuma Indian. But as long 
as others were in as bad a case, I could not complain. 

A few minutes later a Mexican colonel came in and 
was immediately surrounded by ten or twelve ladies, 

1 See " The Cascarone Ball," by Mary Hallock Foote, in The 
Century for August, 1879 (Old Series). — Editor. 



CALrFORNIANA. 



469 



:\i)(l in a moment his face, cravat, and vest looked like 
a rainbow. There was a severe struggle between his 
I" !'t' II - - i;i'! his ilijjnity : hut he rcnicnihered the old 
.1 i I. ■ , \\-'. ; .1 to the inevit.'ii>lc, allowed himself to he 
tarried by the whimsical current, and played his part 
ill the grotesque farce. I also had a little courage, and 
I wcDt up and crackcil a cascarone on ihc young offi- 
cer's head, but he was so busy rubbing the paint from 
his face that my faint hearted attack passed unnoticed. 

Next came the old alcalde of Monterey, a very stiff 
ind dignified man. The first one to attempt to mcd- 
ole with him was the governor's secretary, who was 
-o awkward that he hurt the alcalde's face, and they 
retired to the courtyard of the ranch-house. This 
I'rightcned the hostess, who feared a quarrel, and she 
went out at once. Of course their warm words slopped 
inmcdiately and they came in together, but the old al- 
calde kept his f.icc ami dignity unchangetl the rest of 
the night and no one lifted a cascarone against him. 

The next arrival was a beautiful lady, almost astran- 
ger to us all, but known in Monicrcy as " La Es- 
panola," Iwcause she had recently come from .Spain. 
.She came to me, and in a very sweet voice asked me to 
uncork a cologne bottle that she carried in her hands 
which I in my simplicity did. Then every one laughed 
as she sprinkled me frrim head to foot with the contents. 
She came in an elegant ball dress, but in a moment 
the roses and Idies of her beautiful face and neck were 
hidden under red, black, and green paint laid on heav- 
ily. She broke many cascaroncs, and she also had two 
bottles, one of cologne for the ladies, and one of scented 
ammonia for the gentlemen who were most consjMcu- 
ous in the assault. At last she made her prayer, ^' porel 
utiorde Dios," and every one ceased, with gracious bows 
and smiles, leaving her to put on her dancing slippers. 

All this was in tiie afternoon. Then we washed our 
hands and faces and sat down to a banquet in the old 
adol)e. .After that came more dancing. The annual 
carnival ball was a great feature of the social life of the 
mes, and often lasted all night. The wild revel of the 
e.irlier part of the ball was succeeded by the most 
courtly behavior. 

Bri^ida Briotus. 

A Spanish Girl's Journey from Monterey to Los 
Angeles. 

Kari.y in the winter of 1829 my father, who had long 
ex|-)ected an appointment under the governor, received 
I letter from Los .Angeles saying that his papers were 
in the hands of the authorities there, and would only 
be delivered in i)erson. He decided to take my mother 
and myself with him and go overland, without waiting 
for the yearly vessel from Verl>a Bueiia which would 

i>on be due at Monterey, where we were staying. It 
was nearly Christmas when we began the journey. 
\Vord was sent aheail by a man on horseback to some 

f the sm.iller ranches at which we meant to >top, so 
that we were exjiected. .A young .American who h.nl 
rcithed the coast with letters from the city of Mexico 
heard of our plans, and came to my father to ask if 
he- might travel with us to Los .Angeles, which was 
iMsily arranged. He did not know a word of .Spanish, 
ind I have often laughed at some of his exf>eriences 
on the road, owing to his ignorance of our ways and 
speech. At one house the senora gave him some fruit, 
whereupon he handed her two reals, which she let 
Voi„ XLL — 62. 



fall on the floor in surprise, while the old don, her hus- 
l)and, fell ujHjn hi* knees and said in Spanish, " Give us 
no money, no money at all ; everything is free in a 
gentleman's house I "' A young lady .who was present 
exclaimed in great scorn, " /u>s Engltsts pagar par 
todos!'^ ("The English pay for everything.") I after- 
ward told the .American what they had said, and ex- 
plained the matter as well as I could, but he thought 
it a foolish thing that no one, not even servants, would 
take money for services. We several times met grown 
people, and heads of families, who had never heard any 
language except .Spanish, and who did not know, in 
fact, that any other language existed. They were really 
afraid of our .American, and once I was asked if there 
were any other people like him. 

Our route took us up the Salinas Valley and over 
the mountains to the coast valleys and the Missions. 
.At San Miguel we found everything prepared for a 
jubilee over the prosperous year. The men walked 
about and fired off their carbines and home-made fire- 
works, while the p.adres' servant swung a burning 
oaken brand in the air, and lighted a few rockets. In- 
side the church the Indian choir was singing. We saw 
it all, until about ten o'clock that night ; then the al- 
calde of the village came with fresh horses, and we 
went on, as it was very pleasant traveling. 

The young .American picked up some words in Span- 
ish ; he could say " Grncios,'^ "Si, senor" and a few 
other phrases. One day we passed a very ugly Indian 
woman, and he asked me how to ask her how old she 
was. Out of mischief I whispered, '* Yo te amor,'' which 
he said at once, and she, poor creature, immediately 
rose from her seal (Jii the ground and replied, " Grados, 
Sa'ior, pero soy iudio " ('• but I am an Indian "), which 
gave us sport till long after. The next day our com- 
l^anion gave me a lesson in English by way of revenge. 
It was the day before Christmas, and we had reached 
.San Buenavcntur.i. It w.rs a holiday for every one. 
-After mass all the men and boys assembled on horse- 
back in front of the church, with the padre and the al- 
calde at their head. They rode about in circles like a 
circus, fired guns, beat drums, and shouted. I thought 
it was very fine, and by signs I asked my American 
friend how he liked it, .and he answered, " Dam-fools I " 
with such energy that I supposed they were words of 
praise. Indeed, I used the bad words as very projxrr 
Engli.sh for a year or two, until I learned better, when 
I was of course much mortified. 

When near Los Angeles we had the nearest approach 
to an adventure of our whole journey. We sjKrnt the 
night at a ranch-house. .As I was the young lady of 
the parly, the hostess gave up her own private room to 
me. .At the end of it was an alcove with a window, an<l 
in front of the wimlow stood a shrine, with wax figures 
of the holy Virgin and the child Christ. Before them 
were vases, and fresh wild-flowers from the hills — the 
golden {Hippies, the first blue " l>aby eyes," and the 
white "star-flowers," that bloom at Christmas time. 

To judge from appearances the only shrine to which 
our host w.-Ls devoted was the cockpit, for the court- 
yard of the adolK- was fairly linctl with rows of the 
"blooded birds " so popular at that time with many 
wealthy rancheros, each one tied to a stake by his leg, 
and iK'ing traiiuil for the battlefield. The young .Amer- 
ican, who, like many other foreigners, took up with our 
bad customs more easily than with our good ones, was 



470 



CALIFORNIANA. 



greatly delighted when he saw the rows of fighting 
cocks in the yard. He offered to buy one, but the 
owner thought them too precious to sell. At last, by 
signs, he wagered a dollar on the homeliest of the lot. 
The host, accepting the wager, released his favorite. 
Instead of fighting, the two birds went through the 
window into the room I had occupied, and that with 
sucli force that there was a crash, and a mixture of 
feathers, wax saints, and flowers on the floor. Our host 
turned pale, and rushed in to disentangle his pets, 
while the American jumped up and down on a porch, 
shouting, " Bitcno ! btieno! " The birds were now fight- 
ing in earnest, but the host separated them, gave them 
to a servant, mounted the saddled horse which always 
stood ready, day or night, and, with a faint '^ Adios " to 
me, disappeared. Heknewwhat hewas about, as events 
proved, for the rage of his wife when she saw the bro- 
ken shrine was something terrible. The moment she 
came on the scene she cried out, " Where is he ? " and 
going into the inner courtyard she began to release the 
game-cocks, which hastened to hide in the nearest shel- 
ter. The next morning, when we took our departure, 
the master of the house had not yet returned, and the 
mistress was endeavoring to restore the shrine. 

Amalia Sibrian. 

A Glimpse of Domestic Life in 1827. 

The ladies of Monterey in 1827 were rarely seen in 
the street, except very early in the morning on their 
way to church. We used to go there attended by our 
servants, who carried small mats for us to kneel upon, 
as there were no seats. A tasteful Tittle rug was con- 
sidered an indispensable part of our belongings, and 
every young lady embroidered her own. The church 
floors were cold, hard, and damp, and even the poorer 
classes managed to use mats of some kind, usually of 
tule woven by the Indians. 

The dress worn in the mornings at church was not 
very becoming; the rebozo and the petticoat being 
black, always of cheap stuff, and made up in much the 
same way. All classes wore the same ; the padres 
told us that we must never forget that all ranks of men 
and women were equal in the presence of the Creator, 
and so at the morning service it was the custom to 
wear no finery whatever. One mass was celebrated 
before sunrise, for those whose duties compelled them 
to be at work early ; later masses took place every hour 
of the morning. Every woman in Monterey went daily 
to church, but the men were content to go once a week. 

For home wear and for company we had many ex- 
pensive dresses, some of silk, or of velvet, others of 
laces, often of our own making, which were much 
liked. In some families were imported laces that were 
very old and valuable. The rivalry between beauties 
of high rank was as great as it could be in any coun- 
try, and much of it turned upon attire, so that those 
who had small means often underwent many privations 
in order to equal the splendor of the rich. 

Owing to the unsettled state of affairs for a genera- 
tion in Mexico and in all the provinces, and the great 
difficulty of obtaining teachers, most of the girls of the 
time had scanty educations. Some of my playmates 
could speak English well, and quite a number knew 



something of French. One of the gallants of the time 
said that " dancing, music, religion, and amiability " 
were the orthodox occupations of the ladies of Alta 
California. Visitors from other countries have said 
many charming things about the manners, good health, 
and comeliness of these ladies, but it is hardly right for 
any of us to praise ourselves. The ladies of the prov- 
ince were born and educated here; here they lived 
and died, in complete ignorance of the world outside. 
We were in many ways like grown-up children. 

Our servants were faithful, agreeable, and easy to 
manage. They often slept on mats on the earthen 
floor, or, in the summer time, in the courtyards. When 
they waited on us at meals we often let them hold con- 
versations with us, and laugh without restraint. As 
we used to say, a good servant knew when to be si- 
lent and when to put in his cuchara (or spoon). 



Bidgida Brioncs. 



A Letter from General Sutter. 

The following letter from General Sutter to Gov- 
ernor Alvarado has been furnished us for publication 
by the kindness of the family of the latter. It gives a 
glimpse of the relation of the two men in 1841. The 
"body of American farmers" referred to were evi- 
dently the party whose experiences General Bidwell 
has narrated in the November Century, the " young 
man " being " Jimmy " John. 

A su Excelencia Senor Don Juan Bauptistta Alvarado, 
Gobernador Constitutional de las dos Californias, en 
Monterey. 

Excellent Sir ! Allow me to write you this time in 
English, because I like not to make mistakes in an ex- 
pression. 

I have the honour to send you with this an Act, of a 
comitted Crime on this place ; please give me your Orders 
what I have to do with the Delinquent which is keept as 
a Prisoner here. 

Delinquent Henry Bee was put in Irons, but his friends 
bound themselves for 1000 Dollars Security, when I would 
take the irons from him, in which their Wishes I con- 
sented. 

John Wilson, Black Jack, is well known as at life he 
was a bad Character, which may be something in Bee's 
favour. 

Waiting for your Orders, I shall keep the Delinquent 
in Prison. 

The Trapping party from the Columbia River will be 
here in about 8 Days, under Command of Mr. Erma- 
tinger, I am also waiting for one of my friends a German 
Gentleman with the same party, I believe he travels for 
his pleasure. 

A strong body of American farmers are coming here ; 
a young Man of the party got lost from the party since 
10 Days, nearly starved to death and on foot, he don't 
know which Direction the party took, I believe the will 
come about the Direction of the Pueblo. 

I was also informed that an other Company is coming 
stronger than this under Mr. Fanuni [Farnum]. 

Some very curious Rapports came to me, which made 
me first a little afraid, but after two hours I get over the 
fit. 

I remain, Excellent Sir ! 
Very Respectfully 
Your 
Most Obedient Servant, 

J. A. Sutter. 

NuEVA Helvetia, November 4 de 1841. 

P. S. — In a short time I will have a Secretary who is 
able to write Spanish. 



*//\JL Li^^cUn ^t^jwu^ "AmjU^ ^<^iJtJ^f(o 



</t 



TIIR BEAR FLAG PLATFORM, DRAFTBD IIV CBNKKAL niUWRLI- (FROM MIS MAST'SCRUn* OF THK PMF.SPNT ARTICLK.) 




FREMONT 
OF 



L\ rUF COXOUFST 
CALII'ORNLA.^'' 



nv JOHN ItlDWELL (PIONEER OK '41). 



N the autumn of 1S45 
Fremont came on his 
second exploring ex- 
pedition to Cahfomia. 
This time he divided 
his ])arty east of the 
Sierra Nevada and sent 
the greater portion to come in through a gap 
supposetl to exist farther to the south, while 
he followed substantially what is now the 
emigrant road, or Truckee route, and came 
direct to Sutter's Fort with about eight or 
nine men. At that time I was in charge of 
Sutter's Fort and of Sutter's business, he being 
absent at the bay of San Francisco. Fre- 
mont camped on the American River about 
three miles above the fort. The first notice 
of his return to California was his sudden ap- 
pearance, with Kit Carson, at the fort. He 
at once made known to me his wants, namely, 
sixteen mules, six pack-saddles, some flour and 
other provisions, and the use of a blacksmith's 
shop to shoe the mules, to enable him to go in 
haste to meet the others of his party. I toKl 
him precisely what could and could not be 
furnished — that we had no mules, but could let 
him have h(jrses, and could make the pack- 
saddles ; that he might have the use of a black- 
smith's shop, but we were entirely out of coal. 
He became reticent, and, saying something in 
a low lone to Kit C.irson, ro>e and left w ithout 
saying good-day, antl returned to his camp. 
As they mounted their horses to leave, Fre- 
mont was heard to say that I was unwilling to 
accommodate him, which greatly jjained me; 
for, of course, we were always glad of the ar- 
rival of Americans, and es[)ecially of one in au- 

1 Sec the preceding i>ai)crs by the present writer : 
"The First Kmigrant 'I ram to California " and " Life 
in California Inrforc the Cold Uiscovery," in THE Cf.N- 
ri'RV for November and December, 1890, respec- 
tively. — KlUTOR. 

'*' His men in the mountains had suffered consider- 
al)ly. Fremont had jjiven imsitive orders for iheiii t<» 
w.nit at a certain jjaj) or low divide till he should meet 
them with supplies, but the place couhl not l>e found. 
The men cot out of provisions and Ixmjjhl from the 
Indians. The kind they most relishcti \>a-s a sort of 

518 



thority. IJesides, I knew that Captain Sutter 
would do anything in his power (pr Fremont. 
So I took with me Dr. Ciildea, a recent arrival 
from St. Louis, across the plains, and hastened 
to Fremont's camp and told him what had been 
reported to me. He stated, in a very formal 
manner, that he was the officer of one govern- 
ment and Sutter the officer of another; that 
difficulties existed between those governments; 
and hence his inference that I, representing 
Sutter, was not willing to accommodate him. 
He reminded me that on his first arrival here, 
in 1844, Sutter had sent out and in half an 
hour had brought him all the mules he wanted. 
1 jjrotested my willingness to do anything in 
my power, but was obliged to plead inal)il- 
ity to do more than stated, telling him that in 
1844 Sutter was in far better circumstances; 
that on that occa.sion a man ( Peter La.ssen) hail 
just arrived with a hundred mules, of which 
Sutter had bought what Fremont needed. But 
he had not been able to pay for them, because 
Fremont's drafts ha<l to go Fast before Sutter 
could realize on them the money which had 
been j)romised to Las.sen. In a few days 
Sutter returned, but could not furnish any- 
thing more than I had oflered. Then Fre- 
mont concluiled to go down to the bay and 
get supplies. He went with his little party of 
eight or nine men, including Kit Carson, but 
without succe.ss ; so he sent the men back to 
Sutter's Fort to go, as best they could, to find 
the main party. Meanwhile he himself had 
made his way to Monterey to .see the Ameri- 
can consul, Thomas (J. Larkin. After several 
weeks Fremont and his entire party became 
united in the San Joa«|uin Valley.-' While at 

brown meal, which was rich and spicy, and came so 
much into favor that they wantetl no other. .\!""' 
a while the Indians Ixrcame careless in the prepai.r 
of this wonderful meal, when it wa*^ ' ' ■ 

full of the broken winijs and leps ^^{ 
was simply drii 
The men said ii 
like gingerbread, and th.it they were i" 

and fat. But .iftcr the tliscovery they lo!-i : , , 

lites. How hard it is sometimes to overcome preju- 
dice ! 



TO GEORGE B. BUTLER. 



517 



" Penelope ? " she said. 

" We all have been mistaken, sister," was the 
quick answer. " I was doing my best to please 
you ; but — I 'm afraid — I feel reUeved." 

One year after these events Gay's heart's 
desire was realized. There came into the still 
Belhaven streets such a stir and marshaling of 
troops that the town was bom again to be the 
war-post of the days of Washington. And 
when presently the boys in gray who had been 
rallied from Belhaven's homes marched out, 
the boys in blue marched in. Needless to say 
that, drawn from its rusty scabbard, the sword 
he had carried in Mexico was offered by Major 
Garnett to his Virginia. As colonel of a regi- 
ment of infantry he served at the two battles of 
Manassas, and for several campaigns was heard 
of wherever there was lighting for his corps. 
Then the eager, yearning friends shut up in 
Belhaven, and meeting in secret to pray for the 
armies of the South, learned that General Gar- 
nett had lost both an arm and a foot in battle, 
and was lying, not expected to survive, at a 
hospital in Richmond. For the first time in 
her life Gay saw a blue hght of fixed determina- 
tion burn in the placid orbs of Aunt Penelope. 
Overcoming all obstacles, and braving danger 
and distress. Miss Penelope Berkeley pushed 
through the lines and went to Richmond. 



" Do you know me, David ? " she asked, at 
the moment when it was believed his gallant 
soul was passing to its reward. 

" Know you, Pen ? " he answered. '■ Why, I 
must be in heaven." 

" There is n't much of me left, ma'am," he 
remarked, in the course of a few weeks, to his 
devoted nurse ; " but there 's a body to hold 
my heart, and a hand to put the ring upon 
your finger. Nothing should part us now, Pen. 
Come, say you '11 be Mistress Garnett." 

" O David ! As if I had n't loved you all 
my life," sighed Miss Penelope. 

Gay's own romance came to her after Gen- 
eral and Mrs. Garnett had gone back to live 
in the old house, whence Aunt Finetta had 
been gathered to her fathers. But long before 
this she had given to Major Daisy the en- 
thusiastic homage of her heart. " Between 
Pen and Gay," the dear old boy used to 
say, " I 've more hands and feet and coddling 
than any one man, much less half a man, de- 
serves." 

The Reverend Joshua espoused a widow with 
six children, three farms, and a temper locally 
renowned. Old Peggy died firmly believing 
that her incantations, if not her diplomacy, 
had secured two husbands to the ancient house 
of Berkeley. 

Constance Gary Harrison. 














TO GEORGE B. BUTLER. 



FULL many an artist, Butler, have I known 
In golden days gone by, but none like thee ; 
For thou dost paint what no one else can see, 
What should be seen, but hath not yet been shown — 
Secrets whose meaning has forever flown. 

Things doubtful once which now authentic be, 
- The selfhood which all children christen " me," 
And which discovered is by thee alone. 
Whence is this marvelous craft wherein we find. 
Thou by the pencil, I, my poorer pen. 
What slumbers in the cradle of the heart. 
Or suddenly is awakened in the mind ? 

Through Song at last have I deciphered men, 
Man from the first thou hast discerned by Art. 



R. If. Stoddard. 



FRflMONT IN TlfE COyQUKST OF CALIFORNIA. 519 

Monterey lie hafl obtained permission from Jose processes of swimming one at a time, or of 

Castro, the commandant-general, to winter in taking one or two, tied by all four feet, in a 

the San Joaquin Valley, away from the settle- small Iwat or launch. Arce, with the horses and 

ments, where the men would not be likely to seven or eight soldiers, arrived at Sutter's Fort, 

annoy the people. He had in all in the ex- staid overnight as the guest of Sutter, and went 

ploringparty about sixty well-armed men. He on his way to the Cosumne River (about six- 

also had permission to extend his explorations teen or eighteen miles) and camped for the 

in the spring as far south as the Colorado night. 

River. Fremont's hasty departure for Oregon and 

Accordingly early in the spring (1846) Fr<5- (Mllesj)ie's pursuit of him had been the occa- 
mont started south with his party. When sion of many surmises. Fremont's sudden return 
Castro gave him permission to explore towards excited increased curiosity. I'eople flocked to 
the Colorado River he no doubt supposed he his camp: some were settlers, some hunters; 
would go south or southeast from where he some were good men, and some about as rough 
was camped in the San Joaquin Valley, and specimens of humanity as it would be possible 
on through the Tejon Pass and the Mojave to find anywhere. Fremont, hearing that the 
Desert ; but, instead, Fremont with his sixty horses were passing, sent a party of these pro- 
armed men started to go west and southwest miscuous people and captured them. This of 
through the most thickly settled parts of Cali- course was done before he had orders or any 
fomia, namely, the Santa Clara, Pajaro, and positive news that war had been declared. 
Salinas valleys. As he was approaching the When Gillespie left the I'nited States, as the 
last valley Castro sent an official order by an bearer of a despatch to Larkin and Fremont 
officer warning Fremont that he must leave, and of letters to the latter, war had not been 
as his action was illegal. The order was de- declared. The letters included one from Scna- 
livered March 5. Fremont took possession tor Benton, who had the confidence and knew 
of an eminence called (iavilan Peak, and the purposes of the Administration. As Cil- 
continued to fortify himself for several days, lespie had to make his way through Mexico, 
perhaps a week or more, Castro meantime re- he committed the des])atch and his orders to 
maining in sight and evidently increasing his memory, destroyed them, and rewrote them on 
force day by day, F'remont, enraged against the vessel which took him, via the Sandwich 
Castro, finally abandoned his {)Osition in the Islands, to the coast of California. There had 
night of March 9, and, gaining the San Joa- been no later arrival, and therefore no later 
(juin Valley, made his way rapidly northward despatches to F"remont were possible. Though 
uj) the Sacramento Valley and into Oregon, Fremont was reticent, whatever he did was 
leaving Sutter's about March 24. supposed to be done with the sanction of the 

A little over four weeks after Fremont left I United States. Thus, without giving the least 

happened to be fishing four or five miles notice even to Sutter, the great friend of Ameri- 

down the river, having then left Sutter's scr- cans, or to Americans in general, scattered and 

vice with the view of trying to put up two or exposed as they were nil <■^\rx California, he 

three hundred barrels of salmon, thinking the precipitated the war. 

venture would be jjrofitable. An officer of the Sutter was always outspoken in his wish 

United States, Lieutenant A, H. Gillespie, that some day California should belong to the 

of the marines, bearing messages to the ex- United States; but when he heard that the 

plorer, came up the river in a small boat and horses had been taken from Arce (who made 

at once incjuired about Fremont. I told him no resistance, but with his men and with in- 

he had gone to Oregon. Said he : " I want to suiting messages was permitted to go on his way 

overhaul him. How far is it to the fort ? " And to Castro at Santa Clara), he expressed surprise 

receiving my reply, he pushed rai)idly on. He that Captain Fremont had committed such an 

overtook Fremont near the Oregon line. Fre- act without his knowledge. What Sutter had 

mont, still indignant against Castro, who had said was reported to Fri^mont, perhaps with 

compelled him to abandon his explorations some exaggeration. 

south, returned at once to Califf)min. It so ;\s soon as the horses arrived at Fremont's 

happened that Castro had sent Lieutenant Arce camp, the same jtarty — about twenty-five in 

to the north side of the bay of San F"rancisco number — were sent to Sonoma. By this party 

to collect scattered Government horses. Arce General Vallcjo, the most jiromincnt Califor- 

had secured about one hundred and fif"ty and nian north of the bay, his brother Salvador, 

was taking them to the south side of the bay, his brother-in-law Jacob P. Leese, and Victor 

via Sutter's Fort and the San Joaquin Valley. Prudon were surprised at night, taken prison- 

This was the only way to transfer cattle or ers, and conveyed to F"remont's camp, over 

horses from one side of the bay to the other, eighty miles distant by the traveled route on 

except at the Straits of Carquine/. by the slow the Sacramento River. The prisoners were 



520 



FREMONT IN THE CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA. 



sent to Sutter's Fort, Fremont arriving at the 
same time. Then Sutter and Fremont met, 
face to face, for the first time since Fremont, 
a month before, had passed on his way towards 
Oregon. I do not know what words passed 
between them ; I was near, but did not hear. 
This, however, I know, that Sutter had become 
elated, as all Americans were, with the idea that 
what Fremont was doing meant California for 
the United States. But in a few minutes Sutter 
came to me greatly agitated, with tears in his 
eyes, and said that Fremont had told him he 
was a Mexican, and that if he did not like what 
he (Fremont) was doing he would set him 
across the San Joaquin River and he could go 
and join the Mexicans. But, this flurry over, 
Sutter was soon himself again, and resumed 
his normal attitude of friendship towards Fre- 
mont, because he thought him to be acting in 
accordance with instructions from Washing- 
ton. For want of a suitable prison, the pris- 
oners were placed in Sutter's parlor, — a large 
room in the southwest corner of the second 
story of the two-story adobe house,^ — which 
had but one door, and this was now guarded 
by a sentinel. Fremont gave me special direc- 
tions about the safety of the prisoners, and I 
understood him to put them under my special 
charge. Some of Fremont's men remained at 
the fort. 

Among the men who remained to hold So- 
noma was William B. Ide, who assumed to be 
in command. In some way (perhaps through 
an unsatisfactory interview with Fremont which 
he had before the move on Sonoma) Ide got 
the notion that Fremont's hand in these events 
was uncertain, and that Americans ought to 
strike for an independent republic. To this 
end nearly eveiy day he wrote something in 
the form of a proclamation and posted it on 
the old Mexican flagstaff. Another man left at 
Sonoma was William L. Todd,^ who painted, 
on a piece of brown cotton, a yard and a half 
or so in length, with old red or brown paint that 
he happened to find, what he intended to be 
a representation of a grizzly bear. This was 
raised to the top of the staff", some seventy feet 
from the ground. Native Californians looking 
up at it were heard to say '■'■Coc/ie,'" the com- 
mon name among them for pig or shoat. 

The party at Sonoma now received some ac- 
cessions from Americans and other foreigners 
living on the north side of the bay. Rumors 
began to reach them of an uprising on the part 
of the native Californians, which indeed began 

1 This adobe house is still standing, within the lim- 
its of the city of Sacramento, and is the only relic left 
of Sutter's Fort. [See sketch on page i69,The Cen- 
tury for December, 1890. ] It was built in 1841 — the 
first then, the last now. 

2 More than thirty years afterwards I chanced to 



under Joaquin de la Torre. Henry L. Ford and 
other Americans to the number of thirty met 
De la Torre — whose force was said to number 
from forty to eighty — near the Petaluma 
Ranch, and four or five of the Californians 
were said to have been killed or wounded. 
The repulse of the Californians seems to have 
been complete, though reports continued 
alarming, and a man sent froin Sonoma to 
Russian River for powder was killed. A mes- 
senger was sent in haste to Sacramento for 
Fremont, who hurried to Sonoma with nearly 
all his exploring party and scoured the country 
far and near, but found no enemy. 

I tried to make the prisoners at Sacramento 
as comfortable as possible, assisting to see 
that their meals were regularly and properly 
brought, and sometimes I would sit by while 
they were eating. One day E. M. Kern, artist to 
Fremont's exploring expedition, called me out 
and said it was Fremont's orders that no one 
was to go in or speak to the prisoners. I told 
him they were in my charge, and that he had 
nothing to say about them. He asserted that 
they were in his charge, and finally convinced 
me that he had been made an equal, if not 
the principal, custodian. I then told him that, 
as both of us were not needed, I would go over 
and join Fremont at Sonoma. Just at this time 
Lieutenant Washington A. Bartlett of the 
United States Navy arrived from the bay, in- 
quiring for Fremont. The taking of the horses 
from Arce, the capture of the prisoners, and 
the occupation of Sonoma, had been heard of, 
and he was sent to learn what it meant. So 
he went over to Sonoma with me. 

On our arrival Fremont was still absent try- 
ing to find the enemy, but that evening he re- 
turned. The Bear Flag was still flying, and had 
been for a week or more. The American flag 
was nowhere displayed. There was much 
doubt about the situation. Fremont gave us 
to understand that we must organize. Lieu- 
tenant Gillespie seemed to be his confidential 
adviser and spokesman, and said that a meet- 
ing would be held the next day at which Fre- 
mont would make an address. He also said 
that it would be necessary to have some plan 
of organization ready to report to the meeting ; 
and that P. B. Reading, W. B. Ide, and my- 
self were requested to act as a committee to 
report such a plan. We could learn nothing 
from Fremont or Gillespie to the effect that 
the United States had anything to do with 
Fremont's present movements. 

meet I'odd on the train coming up tlie Sacramento Val- 
ley. He had not greatly changed, but appeared con- 
siderably broken in health. He informed me that Mrs. 
Lincoln was his own aunt, and that he had been brought 
up in the family of Abraham Lincoln. 




( KKUM A nUM I " ,K All! 1 AK 1..^ .\1V' " i * >- "Ji IN IIJSSESSION Ol -- . • — ' 

i«RTRAIT ANIJ AITOCRAPH OF KIT CARSON. 



Vou XI 1. -C.9- 



S-" 



522 



FREMONT IN THE CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA. 



In past years rumors of threats against 
Americans in California had been rather fre- 
quent, several times causing them and other 
foreigners to hasten in the night from all places 
within one or two hundred miles to Sutter's 
Fort, sometimes remaining a week or two, drill- 
ing and preparing to resist attack. The first 
scare of this kind occurred in 1841, when Sut- 
ter became somewhat alarmed; the last, in 
1845. But in every case such rumors had 
proved to be groundless, so that Americans 
had ceased to have apprehensions, especially 
in the presence of such an accessible refuge 
as Sutter's Fort. And now, in 1846, after so 
many accessions by immigration, we felt en- 
tirely secure, even without the presence of a 
United States officer and his exploring force 
of sixtv men, until we found ourselves sud- 
denly plunged into a war. But hostilities hav- 




JACOB P. LEESE. 

ing been begun, bringing danger where none 
before existed, it now became imperative to or- 
ganize. It was in every one's mouth (and I think 
musthave come from Fremont) that the war was 
begun in defense of American settlers ! This 
was simply a pretense to justify the premature 
beginning of the war, which henceforth was to 
be carried on in the name of the United States.^ 
Under these circumstances on the Fourth of 
July our committee met. We soon found that we 
could not agree. Ide wished to paste together 
his long proclamations on the flagstaff, and 

1 So much has been said and written about the " Bear 
Flag" that some may conclude it was something of 
importance. It was not so regarded at the time : it 
was never adojited at any meeting or by any agree- 
ment; it was, I think, never even noticed, perhaps 
never seen, by Fremont when it was flying. The 
naked old Mexican flagstaff at Sonoma suggested that 



make them our report. Reading wrote some- 
thing much shorter, which I thought still too 
long. I proposed for our report simply this : 
" The undersigned hereby agree to organize for 
the purpose of gaining and maintaining the in- 
dependence of Cahfornia." Unable to agree 
upon a report, we decided to submit what we 
had written to Lieutenant Gillespie, without our 
names, and ask him to choose. He chose mine. 
The meeting took place, but Fremont's remarks 
gave us no light upon any phase of the situa- 
tion. He neither averred nor denied that he 
was acting under orders from the United States 
Government. Some men had been guilty of 
misconduct in an Indian village, and he repri- 
manded them — said he wanted nothing to do 
with the movement unless the men would con- 
duct themselves properly. Gillespie made some 
remarks, presented the report, and all present 
signed it. 

The organization took jilace forthwith, by 
the formation of three companies. The cap- 
tains elected were Henry L. Ford, Granville 
P. Swift, and Samuel J. Hensley. Thus organ- 
ized, we marched into the Sacramento Valley. 
The men who had not been at Sonoma signed 
the report at the camp above Sutter's Fort, 
except a few who soon after signed it at the 
Mokelumne River on our march to Monterey. 
This was, so far as I know, the last seen or 
heard of that document, for Commodore Sloat 
had raised the American flag at Monterey be- 
fore our arrival, and soon it waved in all 
places in California where American influence 
prevailed. 

As yet Fremont had received advices from 
Washington no later than those brought by 
Gillespie. His object in going to Monterey 
must have been to confer with Commodore 
Sloat and get positive information about the 
war with Mexico, which proved to be a reahty, 
as we learned even before our arrival there. 
There was now no longer uncertainty ; all were 
glad. It was a glorious sight to see the Stars 
and Stripes as we marched into Monterey. 
Here we found Commodore Sloat. The same 
evening, or the next, Commodore Stockton, a 
chivalrous and dashing officer, arrived around 
Cape Horn to supersede him. Plans were 
immediately laid to conquer California. A 
California Battalion was to be organized, and 
Fremont was to be lieutenant-colonel in com- 
mand. Stockton asked Fremont to nominate 
his own officers. P. B. Reading was chosen 
paymaster, Ezekiel Merritt quartermaster, and, 

something should be put on it. Todd had painted 
it, and others had helped to put it up, for mere pas- 
time. It had no importance to begin with, none what- 
ever when the Stars and Stripes went up, and never 
would have l)een thought of again had not an officer 
of the navy seen it in Sonoma and written a letter 
about it. 



FRI^MONT IX THE COX QUEST OF CALIEORXIA. 



523 





COVEKNOK Jl'AN B. AI.VARAIX>. (1836-43.) GOVERNOR MANUEL MICHELTOHP.NA. (1842-45.) 

TWO MEXICAN GOVERNORS OR CAUPORNIA. ' 



I think, King commissary. The captains and 
hcutenanls chosen at Sonoma were also com- 
missioneil. Though I chd not aspire to office, I 
received a commission as second lieutenant. 

Merritt, the quartermaster, could neither read 
nor write. He was an old mountaineer and 
trapper, lived widi an Inilian S(iuaw, and went 
clad in buckskin fringed after the style of 
the Rocky Mountain Indians. He chewed to- 
bacco to a tli.sgu.sting excess, and stammered 
badly. He had a reputation for bravery be- 
cause of his continual l)oa.sting of his prowess 
in killing Indians. The handle of the tomahawk 
he carried had nearly a hundred notches to re- 
coril the numberof his Indian scal|)s. He drank 
deei)ly whenever he could get liquor. Stockton 
said to him: " .Major Merritt " (for he was now 
major), "make out a recpiisition for some money, 
say two thousand dollars. You will need about 
that amount at the start. P.ring your re<piisili()n 
on board, and I will appnncand ilirect thepur- 
scr to honor it." Major Reading wrote there* po- 
sition and Merritt got the money, two thousand 
Mexican silver dollars. That afternoon I met 
him in .Monterey, nearly as drunk as he could 
be. He said, " Hidwell, I am riih ; I have 
lots of money " ; and putting both hands into 
the deej) pockets of his buckskin breeches he 
brought out two handfuls of .Mexican dollars, 
saying. " H ere, take this, and if you can fmd any- 
thing to buy, buy it, and when you want more 
money come to me, for I have got lots of it." 

Merritt was never removed from his office 
or rank, but simply fell into disuse, and was de- 
tailed, like subordinate ofVicers or men, to per- 
fonn other duties, generally at the hea<l of 

1 For a portrait of Pio Pico, ihc successor of Michcl- 
torcna and the last Mcxicat\ governor, sec TllK 
Ckntcrv for January, p. 379. 



small .scouting parties. Merritt's friends — for 
he must have had friends t(J recommend him for 
jjuarterma.ster — in some way managed to fix uj) 
the accounts relating to the early administration 
of his office. In fact, I tried to help them myself, 
but I believe that all of us together were never 
able to find, within a th<nisand dollars, what 
Merritt had done with the money. How he 
ever came to be recommendccl for <piarter- 
master was to every one a myster)-. Perhaps 
some of the current theories that sub.seipientlv 
prevailed might have had in them just a shade 
of truth, namely, that somebody entertaine<l 
the idea that (luartermaster meant the ability 
and duty to (|uarter the beef! 

The first con(piest of California, in 1S46. by 
the .Vinericans, with the exce[)tion of the skir- 
mish at I'etaluma and another towards Mon- 
terey, wasachieved without a battle. We sinipiv 
marched all over ( 'alifomia from Sonoma to San 
Diego and raised the American Hag without 
opposition or protest. Wetried tofindancnemy, 
but could not. So Kit Carson and Ned IJeale 
were sent l-'-ast, bearing despatches from Com- 
modore Stockton announc ing the entire con- 
quest of Califi)rnia by the I'nited States. 
I'reiiKint was made governor by Sto< klon at 
I, OS .\ngeles, but could not enter upon the full 
discharge of the duties of his office till he had 
visitecl the upper part of California and re- 
turned. He .sent me to take charge of the Mi.s- 
sion of San Luis Rcy, with a commivsion as 
magistrate over the larger portion of the coun- 
try between Los A ' and San I)icgr». 
Stockton and all h; > retired on l)oard 

of their vessels. Fremont went north, leaving 
part of his men at Los Angeles under Cilles- 
])ie, part at Santa llarbara under Lieutenant 
Talbot, and some at other point.s. I'io Pico and 



524 



FREMONT IN THE CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA. 



Jose Castro, respectively the last Mexican gov- 
ernor and commander-in-chief, remained con- 
cealed a v/hile and then withdrew into Mexico. 
Suddenly, in about a month, Fremont being in 
the north and his troops scattered, the whole 
country south oF Monterey was in a state of 
revolt.! Then for the first time there was 
something like war. As there were rumors of 
Mexican troops coming from Sonora, Merritt 
was sent by Gillespie to reconnoiter towards 
the Colorado River. Gillespie was surrounded 



and reorganized the forces, composed of sailors, 
marmes, men of Fremont's battalion under 
Gillespie and Merritt, volunteers at San Diego, 
including some native Californians and that 
portion of the regular troops under General 
S. W. Kearney that had escaped from the field 
of San Pascual- — in all between 700 and 800 
men. Of these forces I was commissioned and 
served as quartermaster. This work of prepara- 
tion took several months. Finally, on the 29th 
of December, 1846, the army set out to retake 




THROUGH THE GOLDEN GATE LOOKING TOWARDS THE BAY OF SAN FRANXISCO. 



at Los Angeles, and made to capitulate. I fled 
from San Luis Rey to San Diego. Merritt and 
his party, hearing of the outbreak, also escaped 
to San Diego. Meanwhile Fremont enlisted a 
considerable force (about four hundred), princi- 
pally from the large Hastings immigration at 
Sacramento, and marched south. Commodore 
Stockton had landed and marched to retake 
Los Angeles, and failed. All the men-of-war, 
and all the scattered forces, except Fremont's 
new force, were then concentrated at San 
Diego, where Commodore Stockton collected 



Los Angeles. It fought the battles of San Gabriel 
and the Mesa, which ended the insurrection. 
The enemy fled, met Fremont at San Fernando, 
and surrendered to him the next day. The 
terms of surrender were so lenient that the 
native Californians from that time forth be- 
came the fast friends of Fremont. 

Unfortunate differences regarding rank had 
arisen between Stockton and Kearney. Fremont 
was afterwards arrested in California by Kear- 
ney for refusing to obey his orders, and was taken 
to Washington and court-martialed. Stockton, 



1 Royce, in his history of California, says that the '-^ Time does not permit nie to do more than allude 

immediate cause of this revolt was the intolerant and to the arrival at San Diego of General Kearney with 

exasperating administration of affairs by Gillespie at one hundred soldiers, and with Kit Carson and Beale, 

Los Angeles. — Editor. from New Mexico; or to his repulse at San Pascual. 



THE DISCOVERY OE (JO/J) IN CALIEORXIA. 



525 



however, was largely to blame. He would not 
submit to (leneral Kearney, his superior in 
command on land, and that led Fremont to re- 
fuse to obey Kearney, his superior otHcer. l'"re- 
mont's disobedience was no doubt owing to the 
advice of Stockton, who had apjKjinted him 
governor of California.' 

The war being over, nearly all the volunteers 
were tlischarged from the service in February 



and March, 1847, at I-os Angeles and San Di- 
ego. Most of us made our way up the coast by 
land to our homes. I had eleven horses, which 
I swam, one at a time, across the Straits of Car- 
( piine/ at Heni(ia, which J.. M.Hudsjjeth, the sur- 
veyor, was at the time laying out for I )r. Robert 
Sem]ile,and which was then (ailed " I'rancisca," 
after .Mrs. N'allejo, whose maiden name was Fran- 
ci.sca Benicia Carrillo. 

John BUwell. 




THK RISII TO CALIFOKNIA: A CARItATfRE OK THE TIME KKOM " I'lNCII " DV RrcHAKD DOVLE. 



Till' i)isc(nM:m' oi- gold ix cai.ii-orma. 




N the summer of 1847 the 
American resiilents of 
( 'alifomia, numbering i)cr- 
^ liaj)s two thousand, and 
mostly established near 
San Francisco Bay, looked 
forward with hope and 
confidence to the 
future. Their govern- 
ment held secure ])Os- 
session of the whole 
territory, and had an- 
nounced its purposeto 
hold it ])ermanently. 
ihe Spanish Califomians. dissatisfied with the 
manner in which Mexico had ruled them, and 
convinced that she could not protect them, had 
abandoned the idea of further resistance. Not- 
withstanding the unsettled condition of politi- 
cal affairs, the market prices of cows, horses, 
and land, whic h at that time were the chief 
articles of sale in the country, had atlvanced, 
and this enhancement of values was generally 

' Mr. Charles H. Sliinn informs us that General 

\ alU'io ill one of his letters telK of havinj; receivoi on 
llie same ilav communications from Commodore Stotk- 



TMC uo«T *»movf CAiiromiiA ouTrir 

• mow " ^UMCM.*') 



regarded as a certain proof of the increasec^ 
])rosperity that would bless the country undet 
the Stars and Stripes when peace, which 
seemed near at hand, should be finally made. 

It so happeneil that at this time one of the 
leading representatives of American interests 
in California was John .\. Sutter, a Swiss by his 
parentage; a(ierman by the place of his birth in 
J5aden ; an American by residence and naturali- 
zation in Missouri; and a Mexican bysubsetjuent 
residence and naturalization in California. In 
1 839 he had settled at the junction of the Sacra- 
mento and American rivers, near the site of the 
present city of Sacramento. 

When he selected this site it was generally 
considered very undesirable, but it had advan- 
tages which soon became ai)j)arent. It was the 
head of navigation on the Sacramento River 
for sailing ve>^els, and steam had not yet made 
its appearance in the waters of the Pacific. It 
had a central position in the great interior val- 
ley. Its distance of si.xty miles from the near- 
est village, and its situation on one of the main 

ton, General Kearney, and Colonel Fremont, each one 
signing himself "Conimandcr-in-chicf of California." 
— Kdiiur. 



526 



THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA. 




VIEW OF SAN H(ANL1S'.(J (KlkMEKl.S \t.Kl!A bL^hNA) IN MARCH, 1847. (AFTER A LITHOGRAPH 
DESIGNED AND PUBLISHED BY VV. F. SWAZEY.) 



A, U. S. S. PortS}>ic-iith ; B, U. S. Transports Loo Choo, Susn;i DrfTo 
and T/iojfias H. Perkins — which brought the Stevenson regiment ; C, Ship 
Vandalia — merchantman consigned to Howard & MeUus ; D, Coasting 
schooner ; E, Launch /,?^tv (belonging to James Lick) ; i. Custom-house ; 
2, Calaboose: 3, School-house: 4, Alcalde's othce : 5, City hotel owned 
by Wm. A. Leidesdorff : 6, Portsmouth hotel : 7, \Vm. H. Davis*s store : 8, 
Howard & Mellus's store (the old Hudson Bay Co.'s building) : 9, Leides- 
dorff 's warehouse : 10, Samuel Brannan : 11, Leidesdorff: 12, Kuss : 13. 



John Sullivan: 14, Peter T. Sherback : 15, Juan C. Davis: 16, G. Reyn- 
olds: 17. Hllis's boarding-house: 18, Fitch & McKurley: 19, Captain 
\'ioget ; 20, John Fuller; 21, Jesus Noe : 22, Juan N. Pidilla : 23, A. A. 
An<lrew; 24, Captain Antonio Ortega: 25, Francisco Cacerez ; 26, Cap- 
tain Wni. Hinckley : 27, General M. (i. Vallejo's building : 28, C. L. Ross : 
29, Mill; 30, Captain John Paty ; 31, Doctor E. P. Jones; 32, Robert 
Ridley; 33, Los Pechos de la Chnco : 34, Lone Mountain; 35, Sill's 
blacksmith-shop; ♦*— >• Trail to Presidio; -*-^*< Trail to Mission Dolores. 



traveled routes of the territory, gave political 
and military importance to its proprietor. The 
Mexican governors sought his influence and 
conferred power on him. But more important 
than all these advantages was the fact that the 
only wagon road from the Mississippi Valley 
to California first reached the navigable waters 
of the Pacific at Sutter's Fort. This road had 
been open for several years and was of much 
prospective importance. The immigration had 
been interrupted by the war, but would cer- 
tainly start again as soon as peace should be 
restored. 

The American residents of California, know- 
ing the feehng prevalent among their relatives 
east of the Rocky Mountains, expected that 
at least a thousand immigrants, and perhaps 
two or three times as many, would arrive over- 
land every year ; and they supposed that such 
additions to the population would soon add 
much to the value of property, to the demand 
for labor, and to the activity of general business. 



The immigration would be especially beneficial 
to Sutter. At his rancho they would reach the 
first settlement of white men in the Sacramento 
Valley. 'J'here, after their toilsome march across 
the desert, they would stop and rest. There, 
they would purchase supplies of food and cloth- 
ing. There, they would sell their exhausted 
horses and oxen, and buy fresh ones. There, 
the penniless would seek employment. There, 
those who were ready to continue their jour- 
ney would separate for the valleys to the north- 
ward, westward, and southward. There, parties 
starting for Oregon or " the States " would ob- 
tain their last stock of supplies. The advan- 
tages of the site were numerous and evident. 

But the advantages of Sutter's Fort imposed 
certain obligations on its owner. He should be 
prepared to furnish provisions to the immi- 
grants. He should not expect the Ameri- 
cans to be content with the Mexican system 
of crushing grain by hand on the nietate, as 
the flat under millstone of the Mexicans and 



TirE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IX CAIIIORNIA. 



5^7 



I Iclvclia and soliriicd cm|)l()yinL'nt. Thcv had 
belonged to the Mormon ballahon, whicli, after 
enhsting in Nebraska for one year, marching 
to the Pacific by way of the (iila, and garri- 








native Cahfornians is calletl. tlie iijjper mill- 
stone being cylindrical and used like a rolling- 
|.iii. He ought to build a tlour-mill in the 
Sa( ramento Valley to grind the wheat which 
he cultivated in considerable 
c|uantity. There was no great 
(lilViculty al)Out the construc- 
tion of such a mill. He had 
a site for it on his own rancho. 
The necessary timber for it 
(ould be found not far away. 
.Vniong the Americans at the 
fort there was skill to build 
and to manage it. These ideas 
pleased Sutler; he adojjted 
them, and acted on them. He 
selected a site and made his 
plans for a Hour-mill, and, 
l)arlly to get lumber for it, he 
determined to build a saw-mill 
also. 

Since there was no good 
limber in the valley, the saw- 
mill must be in the mountains. 
The site for it was selected 
by James W. Marshall, a na- 
tive of New Jersey, a skillful 
wheelwright by occupation, 
industrious, honest, generous, 
but '"cranky," full of wild 
fancies, and defective in some 
kinds of business sense. By 
accident he discovered the 
gold of California, and his 
name is inseparably con- 
nected with her history, but 
it is impossil)le to make a 
great hero of him. The jilace 
for his mill was in the small 
valley of Coloma, 1500 feet 
above the level of the sea, 
and 45 miles from Sutter's 
I'ort. from which it was ac- 
( essible by wagon without 
expense for road-making. 
(Miod vellow |)ine timber was 
abundant in the surrounding 
hills; the water-power was 
more than sutVuient; there 
were opportunities to make 
a secure dam and rat e with small expense, soning San Diego, had been mustered out at 
an<l there was little danger of loss by Los Angeles on the preceiling i6th of July. 
Hood. Sutler left the plans and construction They were on their way to Salt Lake, but 
of the mill, as well as the selection of the site, at the fort receivetl letters aiivising all who 
to NLirshall, and on the 27th of August the could not bring provi.sions for the winter to 
two .signeil an agreement of partnership un- remain in California until the following spring. 



mOU • PHOTOO«<I>H (T lIM/kH. 




Vta'L^fuiJ:^ 



TUB DISCOVERPH OP COI.D AT Sl'TTBK S MILU 



der which Sutter was to furnish money, men, 
tools, and teams, and Marshall was to supply 
the skill for building and managing. 

While the project of the saw-mill was umler 
consiileration some Moniions arrived at New 



I'hev were .sober, onlerly. peaceful, industrious 
men. an«l Sutler hired them to work at his 
tlour-mill and saw-mill. He sent .six of them 
to Coloma. Besides these, NLarshall had three 
" Cientile " laborers, and about a tlo/xn Indians. 



528 



THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA. 



All the white men were natives of the United 
States. 

For four months these men worked at Co- 
loma, seeing no visitors, and rarely communi- 
cating with the fort. The mill had been nearly 
completed, the dam was made, the race had 
been dug, the gates had been put in place, the 
water had been turned into the race to carry 
away some of the loose dirt and gravel, and 



mill, where he showed them to the men as proof 
of his discovery of a gold mine. The scantiness 
in the provision supply gave Marshall an ex- 
cuse for going to the fort, though he would 
probably not have gone at this time if he had 
not been anxious to know Sutter's opinion of 
the metal. He rode away, and, according to 
Sutter's diary, arrived at the fort on Friday the 
28th. Sutter had an encyclopedia, sulphuric 




Sutter's mill, the scene of the gold discovery, (from a painting by nahl, in possession of a. roman.) 



then had been turned ofif again. On the after- 
noon of Monday the 24th of January Mar- 
shall was walking in the tail-race, when on its 
rotten granite bed-rock he saw some yellow 
particles and picked up several of them. The 
largest were about the size of grains of wheat. 
They were smooth, bright, and in color much 
like brass. He thought they were gold, and 
went to the mill, where he told the men that 
he had found a gold mine. At the time little 
importance was attached to his statement. It 
was regarded as a proper subject for ridicule. 
Marshall hammered his new metal, and found 
it malleable ; he put it into the kitchen fire, and 
observed that it did not readily melt or become 
discolored ; he compared its color with gold 
coin ; and the more he examined it, the more 
he was convinced that it was gold. The next 
morning he paid another visit to the tail-race, 
where he picked up other specimens ; and put- 
ting all he had collected, about a spoonful, 
on the crown of his slouch hat, he went to the 



acid, and scales, and with the help of these, after 
weighing the specimens in and out of water, 
he declared that they were undoubtedly gold. 
The first record of the discovery, and the 
only one made on the day of its occurrence, 
was in the diary of Henry W. Bigler, one of 
the Mormon laborers at the mill. He was an 
American by birth, then a young man, and 
now a respected citizen of St. George, Utah. 
He was in the habit of keeping a regular record 
of his notable observations and experiences, 
selecting topics for remark with creditable 
judgment. His journal kept during his ser- 
vice in the Mormon battalion and his subse- 
quent stay in California is one of the valuable 
historical documents of the State. On the 24th 
of January, in the evening, Bigler wrote in his 
diary, " This day some kind of mettle was 
found in the tail-race that looks like goald." For 
the purpose of enabling the reader to see pre- 
cisely how the original record looks, it is here 
shown in facsimile. The size of the page is 



THE DJSCOM'.KY OF GOI.n /V C.ILU-OKMA. 



(? 









-^Otx^ ^^^^tn^-^'^u)'''^^-^^ /^'^^0&^^ A^qi 



'>> 





'2^, 



^'^iz^- 







-'W -T^ej^,^, /^<j^ "--^ /t-^uririie/ ^^r~ 



529 







\a.x^ 



FACSIMILE OF ENTKV IN DIGLER S DIARV. 



retained. The words in darker ink were in- 
terpolated by Mr. Bigler after he had made 
his first entries. Carelessness in the spelling 
ajjpears in " mettle " anil " metal," both writ- 
ten within a week ; and the influence of his 
exj)erience in the Mormon battalion may ac- 
count for his method of writing the name of 
Mr. " Martial." 

The artless arrangement of ideas, and the 
ungrammati( al ])hraseology, accompanied by 
the regular mental habits that demanded a 
diary, and the perception that enabled him to 
catch with his pen the main facts of life as they 
])assed, add much to the interest as well as to 
the authority of his diary. 

Nothing was .said in public about the date 
of the disc«)very until 1856, eight years after 
the event, when Marshall jniblished a letter in 
which he said that he found gold at Coloma 
''about the 19th" of January. 1848. Neither 
then, nor at any subsequent time, did he claim 
that his recollection of the day was aided by 
a written memorandum. In 1857 he published 
a statement that the discovery was made on 
Vm. XI.I — 70. 



the 1 8th, 19th, or 20th. His biography, i)re- 
pared under his direction, and printed in 1S70, 
fixed the 19th as the precise day. As years 
elap.sed he became more exact, perhaps under 
the influence of public opinion, which from 
1856 to 1886 accejjted the 19th as the day. 
On the 9th September, 1885, at the annual 
celebration of the admi.s.sion of the State into 
the Union, I delivered an address on the gold 
discovery to the Pioneer Society of San Fran- 
cisco, and sent a copy of it in print to .Mr. 
Bigler, of whom I had heard as one of the 
survivors of the Coloma j)arty, and recjuested 
him to correct my errors, if he found any. 
He replied that, according to his diary, the 
gold was found on the 24th. At my solicita- 
tion he copied the entries of his book from 
that tlay to the middle f)f May; and then 1 
began an investigation which made me familiar 
witli the diaries of A/ariah Smith, a survivor 
of the Mormon battalion and of the mill- 
builders at Coloma, ami with the diary of 
Sutter. These three diaries agreed substan- 
tially with one another, and with Manshali's 



53° 



THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA. 





AZAKIAH SMITH. 



HENRY \V. BIGLER. 



TWO SURVIVORS OF THE PARTY OF DISCOVERY AT SUTTEU S MILL. 



Statement that four days after the discovery 
he took specimens of the gold to Sutter's 
Fort. Smith made his entries on Sunday as a 
rule; and on the 30th January he wrote that 
on the preceding week gold had been found 
at the mill, and that Marshall had gone to 
New Helvetia to have it tested. This was 
probably written in the morning, for Bigler's 
entry made on the same day mentions that 
the test was successful, implying that Mar- 
shall had returned. 

Sutter's diary reports that on the 28th Janu- 
ary Marshall arrived at the fort " on impor- 
tant business," without mentioning the gold. 
The agreement of the three diaries with Mar- 
shall's statement that he went to New Helvetia 
four days after the discovery, the superior value 
of documentary evidence as compared with 
vague recollections, dimmed by years of inter- 
vening events, and the uncertainty of Marshall 
in reference to the date, left no room for doubt 
that the 24th was the true day, which I gave 
to the public for the first time in January, 
1886.1 

It is worthy of note that although Marshall's 
date was first discredited by Bigler, the latter 
sought no publicity on this point. For more 
than twenty years after Marshall's story had 
been in print he kept silence, and finally did 
not give his testimony utitil solicited to do so. 
We may presume that his attention was not 
called to the discrepancy of dates until 1885, 
and then he did not seem to attach enough 



importance to it to make any effort to inform 
the public about the error. 

For six weeks or more the work on the 
mill continued without serious interruption. 
Never having seen placer mining, and having 
no distinct idea of the methods of finding and 
washing gold, the laborers at Coloma did not 
know how to gather the treasures in their vicin- 
ity. The first one to find gold outside of the tail- 
race was Bigler, who was the hunter of the 
party, sent out by Marshall at least one day 
in every week to get venison, which was a very 
acceptable addition to unground wheat and 
salt salmon, the main articles of food sent from 
Sutter's Fort. Deer being numerous in the 
neighboring hills, it was not necessary that 
Bigler should go far for game ; and more than 
once he managed, while hunting, to look at 
the banks of the river and find some of the 
precious metal. His report of his success stim- 
ulated others, and they too found gold at 
various places. 

In regard to the beginning of gold washing 
as a regular occupation there is a conflict of 
testimony. Bigler says that the first men who, 
within the range of his observation, devoted 
themselves to placer mining were Willis Hud- 
son and five others, all of Sam. Brannan's 
Mormon colony, whom he visited at Mormon 
Island, on the American River below Coloma, 
on the 1 2 th of April. On that day, washing the 
gravel with pans and pan-like Indian baskets, 
they took out more than two ounces and a half 



1 In February, 18S7, Mr. Hittell, under the title of Mr. Smith's in February, 18S8. The files of the same 

" Reminiscences," printed a fuller article on the gold magazine contain many interesting and important 

discovery in the " Overland Monthly," where Mr. contributions to the early history of California, — 

Bigler's diary appeared in September, 1887, and Editor. 



rnr. discovery of gold ix calii-ornia. 



(forty-one dollars) tor each man. On the other 
hand, Isaac Humphrey, wlui had l)een a placer 
miner in Georgia, and who was the first |)erson 
touse a rocker in the Sierra Nevadaand to teach 
others there to use it. said that he arrived in 
Coloma on the 7th of March, anil within a 
week commenced work with a rocker. We 
may e\|ilain the discrepant y between these 
two authorities by imagining that for some 
weeks Humphrey purposely avoided observa- 
tion, as placer miners often do; or that in the 
interval of ten years between his first appear- 



reived at New Helvetia. Ii\c \\< t k-. i.ucr tiie 
"Star "announ( edthat its editor, l-'.C. Kemble, 
was about to take a trip into the country, and on 
his return would re|>ort his observations. He 
went to ( "oloma and either saw nothing or under- 
stood nothing of what he saw, for he preserveil 
absolute silence in his paper about his trip.' 
On the 20th of May, after a number of men 
had left San I''rancisc(j for the mines, he < ame 
out with the opinion that the mines were a 
" sham," and that the people who had gf)ne to 
them were "superlatively silly." The increasing 




iRj/ 



SAMl KL UKANNAN, IN THK Kbt.ALlA OK I'Kl-lSIDIiNT OK THE SOCIKTV OK 
CALIKoRNIA IMOKBERS. (FRO»l A PAINTINIi I.S THK SOCIKTV KOOMS. ) 

f Bntnn.iD «r.i» the rncrvrclic Ic.vlcr of .1 c»>lonr of Mominnt who rcichd S.in l-raiKbco In July. 



1 .1 colony or 
II.- * ... •[ ,■ (. 



' Star." .1 tpcci.it numlicr <^ whtcti 
1848, for circuLilion at the E.ut. 



ance at Coloma and the publicatitm of his rem- 
iniscences his memory misled him in the date. 
In the spring of 184S San Franci.sco, a vil- 
lage of about seven huntlreil inhabitants, had 
two new.spapers, the " Califomian " and the 
"California Star," both weeklies. The first 
printed mentitin of the goltl discovery was a 
short paragraph in the former, uniler date of 
the 15th of March, stating that a gt)ld mine had 
been fountl at Sutter's Mill, antl that a j>ackage 
of the metal worth thirtv tlollars had been re- 



I)ro(iuction of the mines soon overwhelmetl the 
doubters; and before the miildle of June the 
whole territr)ryresountletl with the cry of ",i,v/f/.' 
c.oi.dI ! (lOM) : : 1 " asit wasjjrinted in one of 
the local newspapers. Nearly all the men hurried 
off to the mines. Workshops, stores, dwellings, 
wives, antl even fielils of ripe grain, were left 
for a time to take care of themselves. 

In 1848 the gold hunters of the Sierra Nc- 

1 See article by Kcnibic in " Califurniana " in the 
present number. 




532 



Tiir nrscovERY of gold av California. 533 

vada (lid not need a sc irimric education. The 5000 fret. In all these streams miners washed 
method of wasliing ^old was then so simple, gold in 1.S4S. This aurikroiis region is not only 
and they were so skillful in many kinds of more extensive than any other in the State, but 
industrial labor, that they learne<l it <|uickly. has |)roduced ten timesas much asall the others, 
Ca|)ital. like scientific education and techni- and has had the richest bars, the richest ra- 
cal experience, was unnecessary to the early vines, the most remarkable river claims, and 
placer miner. With the savings of a week's the largest beds of deef) gravel, a.s well as the 
work he could buy the pick, shovel, pan, and most productive quartz mines. It comprises 
ro( ker whii h were his only necessary tools, the places wiiere the gold was discovered by 
As compared with other auriferous deposits of Marshall, where the sluice and the hydraulic 
which we have definite knowledge, those of processes were invented, and where the m(jst 
the Sierra Nevada were unecjualed for the notable improvemenlsof modem times in gold- 
facility of working. They were not deep un- (juari/ machinery were first devi.sed. 
der ground, or scantily suiiplied with water, as The mines of the I'pjjer Sacramento are in 
in Australia and South Africa; nor in a land Shasta County, and were known in 1848; those 
of tropical heat, as in Brazil ; nor in a region of Klamath are in Siskiyou and Trinity coun- 
of long and severe winters, as in Siberia. The ties, and were o|)ene(l in subsequent years, 
depositswere on land belonging to the National Outside of these three main regions gold has 
Government, which, without charge, without been found in paying (juantities, but in rela- 
official supervision, ami without ])revious per- tively small aggregate amount in many isolated 
mit or survey, allowed every citizen to take all districts, including places in the basins of the 
the gold from any claim held in accordance San Joaquin, Fresno, and K.cm rivers, on the 
with the loc al regulations adopted by the eastern slope of Mount San Ijcmardino, and 
miners of his district. • in the mountains of San Diego. Gold has also 

The first gold washing was done on the bars been found in the San Francis(]uito Canon, 

of the rivers, where the gravel was shallow, about sixty miles northward from Los Angeles, 

usually not more than two or three feet tleep, where there was a little placer-wa.shing at 

and where prospecting was easy, and mining intervals through nine years before Marshall 

was jjrompt in its returns and liberal in its made his great discovery, 
rewards. The gravel was rich if it yicMcd Most of the camps which have yielded goUl 

twenty-five cents to the pan; and in favorable abundantly are between 1500 and 3500 feet 

situations a man could dig and wash out fifty above the sea ; a few are as high as 5000 feet, 

to sixty pans in a day, while with a rocker and a few as low as 300. The river-beds may 

he could do three times as much. But on the have as much gokl in the valleys as in the moun- 

l)ars of the American, the Bear, and the Vuba tains, but it is only where there is a steep graile 

rivers it was no uncommon event to obtain that the rich stratum on the bed-rock can be 

from one ilollar to five dollars in a ])an, and conveniently prospectetl and wa,shed. With a 

then the yield for a day's work was equal to a large area of good auriferous gravel on the sur- 

princely revenue. face of the ground, open to everybody ; with a 

When the rainy season began in the winter method of mining that reijuired neither cajj- 

of 1848 the rivers rose and covered their bars, ital nor trained skill ; with a climate that per- 

and the miners, compelled to hunt claims else- mitted work in the oi)en air throughout the 

where, found them in ravines which were dry year; and with a population which before the 

through nine months of the year. These were close of 1849 included at least 75,000 intelli- 

in many cases almost as rich as the bars. It gent, enterprising, young, and strong men — 

was not uncommon to hear, on good author- with all these it might have been exi)ccied 

ity, that this or that man had taken out $1000 that California would, .as hhe did, suddenly 

in a day, and occasionally $5000 or more rise to great importance in the commerce and 

would reward the day's work. In 1849 the in<lustry of the world, 

miners generally got J^i6 a day or more, and The successful miners demanded |)rovisions, 

when a claim would not yield that much it tools, clothing, and many luxuries, tV)r which 

had no value, they offered prices double, treble, and lenfoM 

The important gold producing localities of greater than those i)aid elsewhere. Sailing 

California may be divided into the regions of vessels went to Oregon, Mexico, South Amer- 

the Sierra Nevada, the Upper Sacramento, and ica, Australia, and Polynesia with gold dust 

the Klamath. The Sierra Nevada region com- to purcha.se supplies, and soon filled all the 

prises a stri]) about 30 miles wide, and 200 miles seajiorts of the Pacific with the contagitm of 

long from north to south, in the basins of the e\( itement. The re|iorts of the discovery, 

leather. Yuba, Bear, .American, Cosumne. which began to reach the .Atlantic States in 

Mokelumne. Stanislaus. Tuolumne, and Mer- .Sc-ptember, 1S48. commandeil little credence 

ced rivers between the elevations of 1000 and there before Januar)'; but the news of the 



534 



THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA. 



bined splendors at once to the astonished 
globe. 

The discovery of the mines was an Amer- 
ican achievement. It was the result of the 
American conquest, and of preparation for 
American immigrants. It was made by an 
American, one of a little 



arrival of large amounts of gold at Mazatlan, 
Valparaiso, Panama, and New York in the 
latter part of the winter put an end to all 
doubt, and in the spring there was such a 
rush of peaceful migration as the world had 
never seen. In 1849, 25,000 — according to 
one authority, 50,000 — immigrants went by 

land, and 23,000 by sea from the region east group of laborers in which 
of the Rocky Mountains, and by sea perhaps all the white men weie 
40,000 from other parts of the world, adding Americans, as were the fiist 
twelve-fold to the population and fifty-fold 
to the productive capacity of the ter- 
ritory. The new-comers were nearly 
all young, intelligent, and indus- 
trious men. Fortunately the dig- '' ' 
gings were rich enough and exten- 
sive enough to give good reward 
to all of them, and to much 
larger numbers who came in later 
years. The gold yield of 1848 
was estimated at $5,000,000 ; 
that of 1849 at $23,000,000; 
that of 1850 at $50,000,000; 
that of 1853 at $65,000,000; 
and then came the decline 
which has continued until 
the present time, when the yield 
is about $12,000,000. In the 
last forty-one years the gold 
yield of California has been 
about $1,200,000,000. 

Gold mining was neither novel 
nor rare, but the unexampled 
combination of wonderful richness, 
highly favorable geographical con- ' _ '^ 
ditions, high intelHgence in the 
miners, and great freedom in the politi- 
cal institutions of California led to such 
sudden rush of people, and such an immense 
production of gold, that the whole world was 
shaken. The older placers of Brazil and Si- 
beria, and the later ones of Australia and 
South Africa, had a much smaller influence on 
general commerce and manufactures 




A PRIMITIVE OUTFIT. (AFTER A SKETCH FROM LIFE IN 
1850, BY J. W. AUDUBON, IN THE POSSESSION OF 
HIS DAUGHTER, MISS M. R. AUDUBON.) 



men who devoted themselves to mining. They 
also were Americans who subsequently in- 
vented the sluice and the hydraulic process 
The impression on the public mind was ren- of placer-washing, and who planned and con- 
dered the more forcible by the fact that Cali- structed the great ditches, flumes, and dams 
fornia had just been ceded by Mexico to the that gave a distinctive character to the placer- 



United States. The gold Vv-as discovered be 
fore the treaty of cession was signed, on the 
2d of February, 1848 ; the wealth of the mines 
was known throughout the territory before the 
ratifications of the treaty were exchanged, on 
the 30th of May ; and before the latter date the 



mining of California. 

Never in any other country has a change 
in the political dominion been followed so 
promptly by so marvelous an increase of 
wealth and population, of productive industry 
and general intelligence. Never did a province 



Government of the United States had made a repay new masters more liberally for their 
contract with the Pacific Mafl Steamship Com- trouble in its acquisition, nor did any other 
pany for a line of monthly steamers to ply be- conquered territory ever receive greater bene- 
tween New York and San Francisco by way fit from conquest. The most notable instances 
of Panama. The first steamers were ready for in history of triumphant invasions rewarded 
California before the people were ; and thus with great sums of precious metal were those 
the new dominion, the gold, the steamship of Babylonia by Cyrus, of Persia by Alex- 
line, and the great migration showed their com- ander, of Mexico by Cortez, and of Peru by 



THE DISCOVERY OE GOLD IN CALIEORXIA. 



535 



Pi/.arro — all populous empires with wealth ac- 
cumulated through centuries of prosperity. Yet 
not one of them yielded to its conquerors, 
within a generation, so mvu h treasure as did 
desolate California to the Americans. Hyron 
lamented that he did not live in the day 
*• when Hrutus made the dagger's edge surpass 
the con(|ueror's sword in hearing fame away." 
The pioneers of California can congratulate 
themselves that they have seen the day when 
the .American made the shovel's Made surpass 
the conqueror's sworil in hearing goUl away. 

Let us now consider the consecjuences of 
the discovery. First, as to the men at Co- 
loma in January, 1848, Marshall was not en- 
rii hed. His lumber was soon in demand at 
.f 500 a thousand feet of board measure, or 
twcnty-foltl more than he had exi)ected when 
he ct)mmenced his work ; but not many months 
elajjsed before all the good timber trees near 
Coloma had been cut down by the miners, and 
then the mill had to stoj). He turnetl his atten- 
tion to mining, but was not successful. When 
he had money he did not know how to keep 
it. When he had a good claim he ilid not 
stick to it. When friends tried to help him he 
frequently refused their ofJers with a snarl. He 
imagined ofl'enses where none were intended. 
He complained of plots against his life in a 
community where nearly everybody acknowl- 
edged obligation to him. He was irritated by 
the superior popularity and prosperity of Sut- 
ter, by the facts that to Sutter the main credit 
of the gold discovery was given by many 
new.spapers and influential citizens, and that, 
partly under the influence of that idea, a j)en- 
sion of $250 a month was given to Sutter 
in 1S70, while the true discoverer received 
nothing. After the publication of Marshall's 
biography in 1870, the legislature jierceived 
tl;e injustice of its exclusive favor to Sutter, 
and in the course of si.x years it gave $9600 
as jjcnsion to Marshall, but left him to 
.s|)end the last eight years of his life in i)ov- 
erty and i)rivation. In 1885, at the age of 
seventy-three, he died while alone in a soli- 
tary cabin which he occuj)ied in company with 
another aged and indigent pioneer miner. He 
was buried at Coloma in sight of the place 
where he discovered the gold. His figure, in 
colossal bron/e, stands over his grave. 

Sutter fared better than Marshall, but to him, 
too, the gold discovery proved disastrous. 
Foreseeing the American con(|uest, he did all 
he couUl to favor the .Americans and the 
American Government. He was liberal in his 
entertainment of the \\'ilkes and Fremont ex- 
peditions. He gave generous aid to needy 
.American immigrants when they reached his 
fort from their exhausting journey across the 
desert. Notwithstanding his oath of allegiance 



to Mexico, he assisted the P>ear Flag insur- 
gents as well as the .American for< es after the 
Stars and Stripes had been raised. When the 
gold hunters arrived at New Helvetia on their 
way to the mines many of them obtained un- 
deserved assistance and trust from him. So 
long as he had anything he was open-handed. 
He delighted in being a benefactor, and was 
spoken of as a man of princely generosity. 

He had two land grants from Mexico, one 
of 48,000 and the other of 93,000 acres. The 
first was finally confirmed to him in two tracts, 
one of 8800 acres south of the American River, 
including the site of Sacramento City, and the 
other of about 39,000 acres north of the .Amer- 
ican River. This estate was worth millions 
above all the large sums that he was compelled 
to spend in defending it against the law officers 
of the United States and against squatters ; but 
he managed it badly, and within twenty years 
he had lost everything. The larger grant was 
rejected, though it was entitled to confirmation 
under the proclamation issued, in the name and 
under the authority of the National Govern- 
ment, by Commodore Sloat when he took pos- 
session of California. The promise, made when 
it was imjiortant to conciliate the Spanish Cali- 
fomians, was broken when it became important 
to conciliate land-thieving S(|uatters. 

Sutter's popularity with the pioneers was so 
great that when he had lost all his property 
the legislature came to his aid with a i)ension 
of $3,000 a year, which sum was i)aicl for .six 
years; and it would perhaps have been con- 
tinued till his death if he had not left the State 
in order to demand justice from Congress for 
the spoliation of his proj)erty. Hut he did not 
possess the same popularity and influence in 
the F.astem States as in California. He spent 
winters of vain solicitation at Washington, antl 
there he died on the 1 8th of June, i88o,attheage 
of seventy-seven years. 
His grave is at Fit- 
iz, Lancaster County, 
Fenn.sylvania, where 
he had made his home. 

Of the men at Co- 
loma with Marshall 
none l)ecame rich. Per- 
haps the most success- 
ful miner among them 
was a carpenter named 
Scott, and twenty years 
after the discovery he 
was working by the ^ 

day. He (lug much 4i''"'""^ >^''S 

golil, but could not 
save it. He usetl to tell 
that, with .some part- 
ners, he had a claim in 
which they were mak- 




^\ 



MAKMIAU. MONUMMNT AT 



536 



THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA. 




MK. GOLIGHTLY BOUND KOK CALIFORNIA. (FROM A FKINT PUBLISHED BY A. DONNELLY, 1849.) 



ing $300 each every day, when they were 
told of another ravine where the claims 
yielded $700. They went to the other dig- 
gings, where they found that all the good 
ground was occupied, so they returned to their 
old claim only to find that occupied too. He 
never found anything so good elsewhere. 
Henry W. Bigler, Azariah Smith, and P. L. 
Wimmer and wife, the only survivors of the 
Coloma party, are not known as rich men. 
Bigler resides in St. George, Utah ; Smith in 
Manti, Utah; and Wimmer in San Diego, Cah- 
fornia. 

For California the main results of the dis- 
covery have been the sudden changes from 
a Spanish-speaking to an English-speaking 
community ; from popular ignorance to high 
intelhgence; from pasturage, first to mining, 
and then to tillage, as the occupation of most 
of the people ; from a population of less than 
10,000 to more than 1,200,- 
000 ; and from isolation to fre- 
quent, cheap, and convenient 
communication with all civi- 
lized countries. The State has 
become one of the most noted 
gardens, pleasure grounds, 
and sanitariums of the world ; 
and San Francisco is one of 
the most intellectual and bril- 
liant, and in many respects 




THE SONG OF 
(FROM A DRAWING BY DOYLE 



one of the most interesting, of cities. To the 
United States the Californian gold discovery 
gave a vast increase of the national wealth ; 
great attractiveness for immigration from 
Europe ; a strong stimulus to shipping ; the 
development of the mineral wealth of Nevada, 
Idaho, and Utah ; and the vast railroad system 
west of the Mississippi. 

But Marshall's find did not limit its great 
influences to our continent. It aroused and 
stimulated industrial activity in all the leading 
nations. It profoundly agitated all the coun- 
tries of South America, It shook Europe and 
Asia. It caused the first large migration of the 
Chinese across the Pacific. It opened Japan to 
the traffic of Christendom. It threw a belt 
of steam around the globe. It educated Har- 
graves, and taught him where to find and 
how to open up the gold deposits of Aus- 
tralia. It built the Panama railroad. It 
brought the Pacific Ocean 
within the domain of active 
commerce. Directly and indi- 
rectly it added $3,500,000,000 
to the stock of the precious 
metals, and by giving the dis- 
tribution of this vast sum to 
the English-speaking nations 
added much to their great 
industrial and intellectual in- 
fluence. 

loJni S. HUtell. 

PUNCH.'"* 



THE SIRENS. 
PUBLISHED IN 



CALIFORNIANA. 



Marshall's Own Account of the Gold Discovery. 

I WAS one of the " forty-niners," and workcfl for two 
years in the mines near Coloma. There I became 
well ac(|uainted with Marshall, the discoverer of gold, 
about whom we Argonauts had so often convei^ed on 
our long and weary journey across the plains. 

Coloma, the site of " Sutler's Mill," was then but a 
small mining village, whose straggling houses and 
canvas tents were sCiitlered promiscuously along both 
banks of the Rio de los Americanos. At that time it 
was the center of numerous mining camps, and was 
famous for its drinking saloons and gambling booths, 
where miners from all the neighboring camps were ac- 
customed to gather on Sunday to hear the news, lay in 
supplies for the coming week, and try their luck at 
monle. The canon through which the river flowe<l 
here widened out on both sides, leaving a space of level 
ground on which the town was built ; from this the as- 
cent to the level land above was comparatively easy. 
All the rivers of California that have their rise m the 
Sierra Nevatla run through wild canons, from one to 
three thousand feet in depth. The faces of these canons 
are so abrupt and steep that in a few places only can 
the sure-footed pack-mule zigzag its way up and down 
their dizzy heights. Here, at Coloma, the sides of the 
cafions lo>>e tlicir perpendicular and rugged character, 
and slope gently upward. For this reason long trains 
ofpack-animals, with an occasional " prairie schooner,' 
were daily seen descending and fording the river at the 
mill on their way from .Sacramento to the mines still 
farther north. 

One day, while I wa.s taking a pencil sketch of the 
mill and its surroundings, Marshall came along and 
seated him!»elf beside me ; and there, silting on the 
high bank with our feet dangling over the race, he 
pointed out the very spot where his eye had caught the 
glimmer of that first bit of gold. He was very com- 
municative, but somewhat soured, and spoke rather 
freely of the heartlessness of the Ciovernnjent at Wash- 
ington because it had not protected him in his rights 
as a settler. He claimed the same amount of land, six 
hundred and forty acres, that the first settlers hatl ob- 
tained in Oregon, where he had lived before he drifteil 
southward into California. He had made nothing from 
his discovery, and now all this land surrounding his 
mill, which was his by right of settlement, was gathered 
u|) and taken from him little by little, " without leave 
or license." He had nothing left but the fame, which, 
as he naively remarked, was " neither victuals nor 
• !'>thes to any one." 

1 fully sympathized with him in his tribulations, and 
finally obt.iined what I so much desired, a full state- 
ment of the causes which impelled him to come so far 
from Sutter's Fort, together with all the incidents per- 
taining to his great discovery. This narrative, which 
I penciled down at the time, I believe was the first 
he ever gave to any one. And it is written just as it 
fell from his lips, without correction or addition of any 
kind. 

Frbf.pokt. Pa. Charles B. Gillespie. 

Vol.. XI.I.— 71. 



[m \KsHA1 L's .\ AKKATIVK.] 

" I.\ May, 1847, with my rifle, blanket, and a few 
crackers to eat with the venison (for the deer then 
were awful plenty), I ascended the American River, 
according to Mr. .Sutler's wish, as he wanted to find 
a good site for a saw-mill, where we could have plenty 
of timber, and where wagons would be able to ascend 
and descend ihe river hills. Many fellows had been 
out i)cfore me, but they could not find any place to suit; 
so when I left I told Mr. Sutter I would go along the 
river to its very head and find the place, if such a place 
existed anywhere upon the river or any of its forks. 
I traveled along the river the whole way. Many places 
would suit very well for liie erection of the mill, with 
plenty of limber everywhere, but then nothing but a 
mule could climb the hills ; and when I would find a 
spot where tlie hills were not sleep, there was no timl>er 
to Ije had ; and so it was until I had been out sev- 
eral days and reached this place, which, after first sight, 
looked like the exact spot we were hunting. 

"I passed a couple of days examining the hills, and 
found a place where wagons could ascend and descend 
with all ease. On my return to the fort I went out 
through the country examining the canons and gulches, 
and picking out the easiest places for crossing them 
with loaded wagons. 

" You may be sure Mr. Suiter was pleased when I 
reported my success. We entered into partnership; 
I was to build the mill, and he was to find provisions, 
te.ims, tools, and to pay a portion of ihe men's wages. 
I believe I was at that time the only millwright in the 
whole country. In .\ugust, everything being ready, 
we freighted two wagons with tools and provisions, 
and accompanied by six men I left the fort, and after 
a good deal of difficulty reached this place one beau- 
til'ul afternoon and formed our camp on yon little rise 
of ground right above the town. 

" Our first business was to put u|) log houses, as 
we intended remaining here all winter. This was done 
in less than no time, for my men were great with the 
ax. We tlien cut tind)er, and fell to work hewing it 
for the framework of the mill. The Inilians gathered 
ai>out us in great numbers. I employed al>out forty 
of them to assist us w ith the dam, which we put up in 
a kind of way in about four weeks. In digging the 
foundation of the mill we cut some distance into the 
soft granite ; we opened the forebay an<l ihcn I left 
for the fort, giving orders to Mr, Weimar to have a 
ditch cut through the bar in the rear of the mill, and 
after (|uitling work in the evening to raise the gate 
and let the water run all night, xs it would assist us 
very much in deejx-ning and widening the tail-race. 

"I returned in a few days, and found everything 
favorable, all the men being at work in the ditch. 
When the channel wa> oj>ened it was my custom every 
evening lo raise the gale and let the water wash out 
as much sand and gravel through the night as |x>ssiblc ; 
and in the morning, w hile the men were getting break- 
fast, I would walk down, and, shutting oflT the water, 
look along the race and »ce what was to be done, so 

S37 



538 



CALIFORNIANA. 



that I might tell Mr. Weimar, who had charge of the 
Indians, at what particular point to set them to work 
for the day. As I was the only millwright present, all 
of my time was employed upon the framework and 
machinery. 

"One morning in January, — it was a clear, cold 
morning; I shall never forget that morning, — as I was 
taking my usual walk along the race after shutting off 
the water, my eye was caught with the glimpse of some- 
thingr shining in the bottom of the ditch. There was 
about a foot of water running then. I reached my hand 
down and picked it up ; it made my heart thump, for I 
was certain it was gold. The piece was about half the 
size and of the shape of a pea. Then I saw another 
piece in the water. After taking it out I sat down and 
began to think right hard. I thought it was gold, and 
yet it did not seem to be of the right color : all the gold 
coin I had seen was of a reddish tinge ; this looked 
more like brass. I recalled to mind all the metals I 
had ever seen or heard of, but I could find none that 
resembled this. Suddenly the idea flashed across my 
mind that it might be iron pyrites. I trembled to think 
of it ! This question could soon be determined. Put- 
ting one of the pieces on a hard river stone, I took an- 
other and commenced hammering it. It was soft, and 
did n't break: it therefore must be gold, but largely 
mixed with some other metal, very likely silver ; for 
pure gold, I thought, would certainly have a brighter 
color. 

" When I returned to our cabin for breakfast I 
showed the two pieces to my men. They were all a good 
deal excited, and had they not thought that the gold 
only existed in small quantities they would have aban- 
doned everything and left me to finish my job alone. 
However, to satisfy them, I told them that as soon as 
we had the mill finished we would devote a week or 
two to gold hunting and see what we could make out 
of it. 

" While we were working in the race after this dis- 
covery we always kept a sharp lookout, and in the 
course of three or four days we had picked up about 
three ounces — our work still progressing as lively as 
ever, for none of us imagined at that time that the whole 
country was sowed with gold. 

" In about a week's time after the discovery I had to 
take another trip to the fort ; and, to gain what infor- 
mation I could respecting the real value of the metal, 
took all that we had collected with me and showed it to 
Mr. Sutter, who at once declared it was gold, but 
thought with me that it was greatly mixed with some 
other metal. It puzzled us a good deal to hit upon 
the means of telling the exact quantity of gold con- 
tained in the alloy; however, we at last stumbled on 
an old American cyclopedia, where we saw the spe- 
cific gravity of all the metals, and rules given to find 
the quantity of each in a given bulk. After hunting 
over the whole fort and borrowing from some of the 
men, we got three dollars and a half in silver, and 
with a small pair of scales we soon ciphered it out 
that there was no silver nor copper in the gold, but 
that it was entirely pure. 

" This fact being ascertained, we thought it our best 
]iolicy to keep it as quiet as possible till we should have 
finished our mill. But there was a great number of 
disbanded Mormon soldiers in and about the fort, and 
when they came to hear of it, why it just spread like 



wildfire, and soon the whole country was in a bustle. 
I had scarcely arrived at the mill again till several per- 
sons appeared with pans, shovels, and hoes, and those 
that had not iron picks had wooden ones, all anxious 
to fall to work and dig up our mill ; but this we would 
not permit. As fast as one party disappeared another 
would arrive, and sometimes I had tlie greatest kind 
of trouble to get rid of them. I sent them all off 
in different directions, telling them about such and such 
places^ where I was certain there was plenty of gold if 
they would only take the trouble of looking for it. At 
that time I never imagined that the gold was so abun- 
dant. I told them to go to such and such places, because 
it appeared that they would dig nowhere but in such 
places as I pointed out, and I believe such was their 
confidence in me that they would have dug on the 
very top of yon mountain if I had told them to 
do so. 

"The second place where gold was discovered was 
in a gulch near the Mountaineer House, on the road 
to Sacramento. The third place was on a bar on the 
South Fork of the American River a little above the 
junction of the Middle and South forks. The diggings 
at Hangtown [now Placerville] were discovered next 
by myself, for we all went out for a while as soon as 
our job was finished. The Indians next discovered the 
diggings at Kelsey's, and thus in a very short time we 
discovered that the whole country was but one bed of 
gold. So there, stranger, is the entire history of the 
gold discovery in California — a discovery that hasn't 
as yet been of much benefit to me." 

Confirming the Gold Discovery. 

Sometime in March, 1848, vague rumors of the 
gold discovery at Sutter's Mill found their way to 
Verba Buena, now San Francisco, at that time a town 
of three or four hundred inhabitants. The writer of 
this was editing and printing with his own hands a 
small weekly paper in the town, the first that had 
been started there, and when the reports of gold on 
the Rio de los Americanos began to multiply he 
deemed it to be in the line of his duty to go and in- 
vestigate the wonder. 

It was a seven days' journey by sloop or " launch," 
as the Sacramento River carrier of that day was called, 
from San Francisco to Sutter's Fort, and the party, con- 
sisting of the editor and two friends, reached the " em- 
barcadero " of Sutter's Fort, — that is to say, the river 
landing, — where Sacramento now stands, in the early 
part of April. One of Sutter's Indians apprized the 
captain of our coming, and, as was his invariable cus- 
tom on the arrival of strangers, he caused saddled 
horses in charge of vaqueros to be sent to convey the 
new-comers to the fort. Its proprietor met us at the 
entrance, hat in hand, and gave us his usual whole- 
hearted welcome. He was then a man of about forty- 
six years of age, gray and venerable in appearance, 
but erect, and of ruddy countenance, his mild, blue eye 
lighted with benevolence, and his simple, guileless na- 
ture manifesting itself in every act and expression. 
After seeing us made comfortable, he set before us a 
hearty meal of the beef and frijoles of the country, and 
we announced that we had come to see the gold-mine 
which it was reported he and Marshall had opened 
on the American River. 



CALII'ORNJANA. 



539 



He not only readily a.sscnte(l, but offered lo provide proved to l>c literally trui-, hut it was very mi>leailin^ lo 

horses, provisions, and attendants for our journey, and our unpractised |)arty at tlial lime, an<l wc searched thli- 

also to po with us in person to the spot. It may have jjcnily until near sundown in most impraclicahlc pintes. 

been that he hail not the faith of his jwrtner Marshall < »nly one of us was rewarded by the "color ": Major I', 

in the extent and |KTmanency of the newly discovered IJ. Reading washed out a few grains with an Indian bas- 

" *^''KK'"k''*'" ''"^ those who knew Sutter well will see ket and thoutjht himself very |)oorly i>aid for his labor, 
in the incident the overflowing kindliness of heart and After sup|K-r we gathered ab<iut the camp-fire, and 

the unselfish generosity that characterized his whole life, the Indians of the neighborhood, having heard of Cap- 

.\t sunrise the next morning we t»Jok the road to the tain Sutter's arrival, came, as was their custom, to see 

lumi>er cani|>, distant a gcxnl day's ride fioin the fort, him, ilropping in by twos and threes until we had 

Captain Sutter's two Indian body-servants preceded nearly all the principal men of the Coloma bands be- 

us with extra saddle-horses and a |)ack-animal carrying fore us. Then an old chief arose and began to ha- 

provisions and camji e>iuipage. Our party, consisting raiigue the captain, warning him against looking for 

of the captain, mounted on a favorite riding-mule, and the gold, which he declared was very " bad medicine." 

my two friends and myself, on native horses, followed He sai<l his ancestors had known all about it ; that it 

at a go«i gait, though at this period of his life Captain existeil all through the mountains, but that it JK-longed 

Sutter was not an overbold rider, and in fording to a demon, who devoured all who searched for it. 

streams and crossing marshy places was careful almost This demon inhabited a lake in the mountains the 

to timidity. I remeinl)er well his appearance under shores of which were lined with gold. All our <lusky 

his broad-brimmed hat, and carrying under his arm his friends agreed with the speaker that it was a very aw- 

goldheaded cane. At one point on the road, where it ful thing to meddle with the gold. We afterward 

ledthroughastony bog, his mule made a misstep, and I caine to the conclusion that the earlv Mission fathers 

heard her rider expostulate in a low lone : " God bless had learned of the existence of gold, and, wishing to 

me, Katy I Now den, child ! De oder foot. .So.'" keep the knowledge secret and prevent its value be- 

\Ve reached the fork of the .\merican, on which coming known among their Indian catechumens, had 

the saw-mill was being erected, early in the afternoon, invented this fable of the demon to work u{K)n their 

During our ride we had not seen a human being, and superstitious fears. But the old chief was a true 

had passed but one house. The camj) of the mill- prophet as to the disastrous effects of the newly dis- 

wright and lumbermen was in a beautiful grove of covered gold on the fortunes of poor Sutter and of the 

pines on the side of a long hill sloping lo the river, simple-minded and hospitable Sp.inish rancheros who 

This " long hill of Coloma " became memorable not then dwelt at ease on the land. 

many months afterward, when freight wagons and We returned to the fori the next day. On our way 

stages came into use, for its wearisomencss, occasion- through the foothills we had another illustration of 

ally relieved by a runaway among the half-trained Captain Sutter's unbounded generosity. Crossing the 

bronco teams. The mill, now so famous in history, beautiful little valley through which Weber Creek 

was at the foot of this hill, on the edge of the stony flowed, one of our party expressed his admiration of 

bar that stretched out to the river. The race, in the spot in such warm terms that our host offered to 

which the first gold was found, ran along the bank present a deed of the land to him. From the fort we 

just above the level of the bar, but both bar and race returned to San Francisco, and in the columns of the 

were flomled now from the sudden and unusual rise "California .Star" of the following .Saturday appeareil 

in the river ; work w.is stopjK-d at the mill, and the the first veritable announcement of the discovery of 

lumbermen were idle in the camp. gold, coupled with half a column of serious advice to 

Riding up to the camp. Captain Sutter saluted the farmers, mechanics, and all who were plying their trade 

men with his characteristic politeness and cordiality, successfully to slick to their calling and let the gold- 

and introduced our party to .Marshall. " These gentle- mines severely alone. This was the first investigation 

mans have come to see der gole-mines, .Mr. Marshall," of the gold-mines in California, and the first visit by 

he said ; and then, seeing the vexed and disappointed Cajitain Sutter lo the scene of the discovery which 

look that came into the latler's face, he added that we laid open the wonders of th.nt region to the world. 



were his friends, and showed by his open manner that 
so far as we were concerned, at least, there need l)e no 
secrecy about the gold. But Marshall would not be pro- 
pitiaied,and gave us only gruff and evasive replies to our 
inquiries about the locality where it was to be found. 



E. C. Kemble. 



Erratum. 



On page 791 of the September Ckntury, in Mr. 
Fitch's article " How California came into the Union," 



" You 11 find it anywhere you 're a mind to dig for an instance of heterophcmy occurs in the substitution 
it down there," said he, half extending his arm in of Septeml>er 29 for October 29. the date of the first 
the direction of the river. Some months later this f)rmal celebration of the admission of California. 




THE FAITH DOCTOR.^ 



BY EDWARD EGGLESTON, 
Author of" Roxy," " The Circuit Rider," "The Hoosier Schoolmaster," "The Graysons," etc. 



THE ORIGIN OF A MAN OF FASHION. 




T was the opinion of a good 
many people that Charles 
Millard was " something of 
a dude." But such terms 
are merely relative ; every 
fairly dressed man is a dude 
to somebody. There are 
communities in this free 
land of ours in which the wearing of a coat at 
dinner is a most disreputable mark of dudism. 
That Charles Millard was accounted a dude 
was partly nature's fault. If not handsome, he 
was at least fine-looking, and what connoisseurs 
in human exteriors call stylish. Put him into a 
shad-bellied drab and he would still have re- 
tained traces of dudishness ; a Chatham street 
outfit could hardly have unduded him. With 
eyes so luminous and expressive in a face so 
masculine, with shoulders so well carried, a 
chest so deep, and legs so perfectly propor- 
tioned and so free from any deviation from 
the true line of support, Millard had tempta- 
tions to cultivate natural gifts. 

There was a notion prevalent among Mil- 
lard's acquaintances that one so versed in the 
lore and so deft in the arts of society must be- 
long to a family of long standing ; the opinion 
was held, indeed, by pretty much everybody ex- 
cept Millard himself His acquaintance with 
people of distinction, and his ready access to 
whatever was deemed desirable in New York, 
were thought to indicate some hereditary pat- 
ent to social privilege. Millard had, indeed, 
lines of ancestors as long as the longest, and, 
so far as they could be traced, his forefathers 
were honest and industrious people, mostly 
farmers. Nor were they without distinction : 
one of his grandfathers enjoyed for years the 
fehcity of writing "J. P." after his name; an- 
other is remembered as an elder in the little 
Dutch Reformed Church at Hamburg Four 
Corners. But Charley Millard did not boast 
of these lights of his family, who would hardly 
have availed him in New York. Nor did he 
boast of anything, indeed; his taste was too 
fastidious for self-assertion of the barefaced 
sort. But if people persisted in fitting him out 
with an imaginary pedigree, just to please their 

1 Copyright, 1891, by EuWARU 
540 



own sense of congruity, why should he feel 
obliged to object to an amusement so harm- 
less ? 

Charles Millard was the son of a farmer who 
lived near the village of Cappadocia in the 
State of New York. When Charley was but 
twelve years old his father sold his farm and 
then held what was called in the country a 
" vendoo," at which he sold " by public out- 
cry " his horses, cows, plows, and pigs. With 
his capital thus released he bought a miscel- 
laneous store in the village, in order that his 
boys " might have a better chance in the 
world." This change was brought about by 
the discovery on the part of Charley's father 
that his brother, a commission merchant in 
New York, " made more in a week than a 
farmer could make in a year." From this time 
Charley, when not in school, busied himself 
behind the counter, or in sweeping out the 
store, with no other feeling than that sweeping 
store, measuring calico, and drawing molasses 
were employments more congenial to his tastes 
and less hard on good clothes than hoeing po- 
tatoes or picking hops. Two years after his 
removal to the village the father of Charley 
Mihard died, and the store, which had not been 
very successful, was sold to another. Charley 
left the counter to take a course in the high 
school, doing odd jobs in the mean while. 

When young Millard was eighteen years old 
he came into what was a great fortune in vil- 
lage eyes. His father's more fortunate brother, 
who had amassed money as a dealer in coun- 
try produce in Washington street. New York, 
died, leaving the profits of all his years of toil 
over eggs and butter, Bermuda potatoes and 
baskets of early tomatoes, to his two nephews, 
Charley Millard and Charley's elder brother, 
Richard. After the lawyers, the surrogate, the 
executor, and the others had taken each his 
due allowance out of it, there may have been 
fifty or seventy-five thousand dollars apiece 
left for the two young men. Just how much 
it was the village people never knew, for Char- 
ley was not prone to talk of his own affairs, 
and Dick spent his share before he fairly had 
time to calculate what it amounted to. When 
Richard had seen the last of his money, and 
found himself troubled by small debts, he sim- 
plified matters by executing a " mysterious dis- 
Eggleston. All rijjhts reserved. 



riuNEKR M\\S I\ SAN FRANCISCO. 



'tSr-: 




111.11 

y* HiiMj k 4 .nm f HIND IS i:. 



0Mi- 





'ALTA CALIFORNIA. 



HEN Captain Montgomery 
first gave the American flag 
Jl to the breeze on the Plaza 
xC of Verba Buena on the 8th 
ll o( July, 1846, let us hope 
^ that a certain person was 
there to see — that native 
woman who, in Los Angeles in 1842, sang in 
the hearing of Dutlot de Mofras her song of 
prophecy : '' When the Frenchmen come, the 
women will surreniler ; wlien the Americans 
tome, good-by to California ! " 

On the day (jf that Hag-raising Verba Bucna 
was an amiable as well as a picturescjue village, 
and its tenscore of inhabitants, — native Califor- 
nians, English, Scotch, and Irish, with a sprin- 
kling of Swiss, Swedes, Danes, Kanakas, and 
Indians, — unvexed by jjrophetic dreams of the 
feverish days of gold, were content to hail that 
gaudy bunting, and the promise of all that it 
stood for; were content to wait till the com- 
merce of all the seas should find its way to 
the noblest anchorage the world could otTer it. 
I'hc ever-expectant citizen of Verba Bucna 
who, spy-glass in hand, on the last day of that 
same July, mounted the hill above the cove 
("Telegrajth Hill" it was to be called) was 
greeted with a ])ros])ect that justified his high- 
est hopes, and inspired him with the raptures to 
which Benjamin Morell had given e\ 
fifteen years before — "a bay that mi^ . 
the whole British navy without crowding ; a 
circling grassy shore indented with convenient 
coves ; a verdant, l)looniing country roun«l 
about," Here were waving woodlands, and 



pastures flecked with grazing herds; hill and 
dale, mountain and valley, rolling rivers and 
gurgling brooks. And, looking seaward to 
where the Pacific pounded at the rocky head- 
lan<ls of the (iolden (iate, he descried a ship 
under all sail, hearling for the straits and the 
bay ; a ship carrying the American ensign at 
her peak, but not a man-of-war, for her (lerks, 
and even her lower rigging, were black with pas- 
sengers — men, women, and children! Again 
antl again, with leveled gla.ss, he peered, con- 
firming the witness f)f his eyes; then he turned 
and ran down the hill antl around the curving 
beach of the cove that rested sleepily between 
the arms of Clark's Point and the Rincon : and 
presently all the motley multitude of his fellow 
citizens were swarming from their adobes and 
their shanties, stirred with the news as the 
leafy ridges of the Contra Costa were stirred 
with the sea-breeze. 

The ship that let go her anchor that day, 
off the little island of the "good her!)," was 
the Brooklyn from New York, bringing 
"Bishop" Brannan (the redoubtable "Sam" 
of a later day) and his colony of Latter-day 
Saints; and these brought stout hearts, strong 
arms, and cunning hands; money, tools, pluck, 
keen wits, and a printing-press. And so, al- 
though they quarreled with their ver)' mun- 
dane bishop, and went to law with him, and 
abandoned their scheme of Mormon coloni- 
zation, and presently made game of Brigham 
Voung in their tents among the sand-hills, 
nevertheless they gave to San Francisco her 
first prayer-meeting, her first jury trial, her first 
local advertising, her first newspaper; for with 
the same tyjies and press that hail once done 
duty for " The Prophet " in New Vork, they 
printed blank deeds, alcalde's' grants, and pro- 
nunciamientos, and early in the following Jan- 
uary i.ssued the first number of the " California 
Star," pletlged " to eschew with the greatest 
caution everything that tends to the .1- 

tion t)f sectarian dogmas." A progre- k. 

those Mormons of Verba Buena 1 

Toward the close of Januar>', 1847, Verba 
Buena underwent a change of name, and by 
summary process and proclamation of the al- 
calde became San Francisco ; for the chief 
istrates of those days were a ver)' sum- 
; . y folk, doing a mildly autocratic business 
each in his little bailiwick, and having small 
reverence fi)r precetlents or principles, but just 
setting up or casting down accordmgto certain 
loose notions of their own regarding Mexican 



54- 



PIONEER DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO. 



judicature or Californian traditions. And so 
the first alcalde of Verba Buena under the 
American flag, being a naval lieutenant (Mr. 
Washington A. Bartlett) appointed by Captain 
Montgomery, and invested with ample powers, 
military as well as civil, to administer the af- 
fairs of the embryo metropolis according to 
Mexican practice conformed to American 
ideas, proceeded to the making of history in 
a small way, building better than he knew. 
He first changed the name of the place to San 
Francisco, and then vouchsafed to explain that 
Verba Buena was but a paltry cognomen taken 
from a lot of vulgar mint overrunning an in- 
significant island ; that it was a merely local 
name, " unknown beyond the district," while 
San Francisco had long had the freedom 
of the maps ; and finally that it was an out- 
landish name, which Americans would mangle 
in pronouncing. " Therefore, to prevent con- 
fusion and mistakes in public documents, and 
that the town may have the advantage of the 
name given on the public map, it is hereby 
ordained," etc. 

And the alcalde was right: for in 1836 Al- 
exander Forbes had written " the port of San 
Francisco is hardly surpassed by any in the 
world"; and ten years later (eighteen months 
in advance of the Bartlett coup) George Ban- 
croft, then Secretary of the Navy, had instructed 
Commodore Sloat in relation to the blockade 
or occupation of "the port of San Francisco," 
in the event of his (Sloat's) ascertaining with 
certainty that Mexico had declared war against 
the United States. 

The 5th of March, 1847, brought the ship 
Thomas H. Perkins, with a detachment of the 
New Vork regiment commanded by Colonel 
Stevenson. These men were pledged by the 
terms of their enlistment to make permanent 
settlement in California at the close of the war, 
and they had been chosen for the most part 
with an eye to their prospective usefulness as 
skilled artisans or shrewd traders. Thus they 
constituted an important accession to the popu- 
lation, and, joined with their Mormon prede- 
cessors, showed a bold front of energy and 
confident resources. The air began to be stirred 
with the bustle of business, and all the talk was 
of town lots. General Kearney had ceded to 
the town all the beach- and Avater-lots on the 
east front, between Fort Montgomery and Rin- 
con Point; and on the 20th of July two hundred 
of these lots, lying between the limits of high- 
and low-water marks, were sold at public auc- 
tion for from $50 to $100 each. These lots 
measured 45 x 137 feet, and were for the most 
part uncovered at low tide. In December, 
1853, the water-lots between Clay and Sacra- 

1 J. S. Hittell, <' A History of the City of San 
Francisco." 



mento streets fetched from $8000 to $16,000 
each, although they were but 25x60 feet, and 
at all times under water. In 1847 ^ fifty-vara 
lot north of Market street could be bought for 
$16. A vara, the Spanish yard, is about 2)2>yi 
inches, and six of these lots made a building 
block bounded by four streets. Hittell 1 re- 
cords that, in the seventeen months ending on 
the istof August," 157 houses had been built in 
a place which had only 30 houses before"; and 
already it was a city of two newspapers, for in 
May the " Cahfornian " had come from Monte- 
rey and cast in its fortunes with the "smart little 
settlement on the cove," which, having secured 
two notable importations of unterrified hus- 
tlers, had begun to set competition at defiance, 
with a total population of nearly five hundred, 
composed of all nationalities under the sun. 
Of this number fully one half were citizens of 
the United States ; and these, being stirred by 
municipal aspirations, bethought them that it 
was time to give the place a town council and 
call it a city. So a public meeting was held 
under a call from the governor, and six gentle- 
men were elected to constitute an ayiinta- 
micnto, or council. These were Messrs. Glover, 
Jones, Howard, Parker, Leidesdorff, and 
Clark, and their functions were the laying out 
of streets, the award of building privileges, the 
regulation of business, the granting of licenses, 
the appointment of town officers and consta- 
bles, etc. The enforcement of ordinances and 
general execution of the laws devolved upon 
the first alcalde, who was Mr. George Hyde. 
He was assisted by Dr. T. M. Leavenworth as 
second alcalde, and by Mr. Leidesdorff as trea- 
surer. Messrs. Glover, Leidesdorff, and Clark 
were appointed a committee to take measures 
for the establishment of a public school for the 
youth of both sexes ; but it was not until April 
3, 1848, that the school was formally opened. 
By that time the population had increased to 
about 850, all told, and the buildings of all 
kinds numbered two hundred, including two 
considerable hotels, besides public houses and 
saloons, stores, warehouses, and two wharves 
in course of construction. Already the charac- 
teristic enterprise of San Francisco had begun 
to express itself in a brisk development of 
its peculiar industry : gambling-houses were 
springing up on every corner, and an ordinance 
of the ayuntamiento provided for the seizure, 
for the benefit of the* town, of all moneys found 
on any table used for gambling with cards. 
" Such an ordinance, if enforced a year later, 
would have enriched the city in a single night ; 
but the act was repealed at the next meeting." - 
Early in the spring of 1848 there began to 
be rumors of gold to be found in the foothills 

2 Soule, Gihon, and Nisbet, " The Annals of San 
Francisco" : New Vork, 1855. 



PIONEER DAYS IN SAN ERANCISCO. 



543 



oi the Sierra > evatla ; and presently actual 
miners appcarei in town, showing small par- 
cels of dust and tcllinp tales of wonder that 
tunicd the heads of gaping groups met at the 
landing on the cove and in every {)lace con- 
venient for asi.eml)ling from Telegraph Hill to 
Happy Valley. Then the cxy went uj), and 
bedlam was let loose. Sailors deserted from 
the shipping and soldiers from the barracks; 
the laborer dropped his shovel and his pick, 
only to return and take them up again — shov- 
els and picks would be useful in the diggings ; 
the meciianic turned his back upon his job ; 
the builder left his house unroofed ; the black- 
smith and the baker let their fires go out ; and 
the merchant stripped his shelves, huddled his 
goods into boxes and bales, and shouted at the 
cove for a launch bound for the Sacramento 
Valley. The cry of "Gold ! " was caught up 
and reechoed on the docks and in the market- 
])laces of Atlantic seaports, until the world was 
turned upside down. Every day added to the 
number of tho.se who were hurrying to the 
'• placers," and the bay was alive with freighted 
launches crawling up the Sacramento. In May 
and June the" Californian "and the" California 
Star " stopped their presses with a farewell fly- 
sheet. In the middle of July the "Califor- 
nian " revived with news of aflairs in the mines. 
For two months the ayuntamiento had not 
met ; the city fathers and officials had all gone 
to the diggings. The public school, which had 
been closetl for two months, was reopened in 
December, and on Sundays public worship 
was helil there by a Protestant chaplain im- 
ported from Honolulu, on a salary of $2500, 
raised by sub.scrij)tion. 

The first brick house in San Francisco was 
built by Melius and Howard on the comer of 
Clay and Montgomery streets, in September, 
1848. In December flour was $20 a barrel, 
butter ninety cents a pound, brandy ^8 a gal- 
lon, and gold-dust dull at $10.50 an ounce. 
Common laborers were getting $10 a day, and 
onlinary mechanics $20. Gold-dust at $16 the 
ounce soon became the circulating medium for 
all purposes of trade. The bay was bustling 
w ith small craft, and the sand-hills were thickly 
flecked with canvas tents and such makeshifts 
as could be rigged with a i)ole and two blan- 
kets, while the Plaza, and Clay and Montgomer)' 
streets, rioted in music an<l drink and gambling. 
" Men," says Hittell, " who had liveil on five 
dollars a month now si)ent hundreds ; men who 
had been idlers formerly were now among the 
most in(lustri(nis, and men who had never be- 
fore wa>ted a day became loungers and gam- 
blers." And, let us add, men who at home had 
been blithe, cheer)', vital, became despondent, 
moody, inert, stunned by the mad scramble 
about them ; and men refined, sensitive, keenly 



susceptible to impressions of coarseness and 
depravity, became home-sick, heart-sick, des- 
perate, ready to plunge into the unknown out 
of the ghastly brutality of such a training as 
this. 

( )n the la.st day of February came the steam- 
ship G////j'r///<7, bringing General Persifer .Smith 
to the command of the .Military Department, 
comprising California and Oregon ; and on the 
last day of March the Pacific mail-steamer 
Orri^oti brought about three hundrerl and fifty 
passengers, including Colonel John \V. (jeary, 
who bore government despatches to the com- 
manders of the military and naval forces on the 
Pacific, and brought the first regular mail that 
was opened in .San Francisco. Colonel (ieary 
had been appointed postmaster of the new city, 
with powers to create post-oflices, appoint |iost- 
masters, antl estal)lish mail routes throughout 
the territory. Within the next three months 
more than three hundred sf|uare-rigged \essels 
were lying in the harbor stranded and disabled 
for want of sailors, the crews having deserted 
in a body almost as soon as the anchors were 
let go. Some of these vessels eventually rotted 
where they were moored ; some were hauled up 
on the beach and in the mud to serve as .store- 
houses, lodging-houses, and saloons ; and, at a 
later period, more than one of them, flanked 
by buildings and wharves, and forming part of 
a street, appeared as an original and startling 
feature of that most surprising town. Thus, 
the brig Etiphemia was purchase<l by the ayun- 
tamiento and converted into the first jail, and 
the store-shiji Apollo was used as a lodging- 
house and drinking-saloon ; and as lots were 
])iled or filled in on the flat covered by the bay, 
the Apollo saloon in course of time presented 
the extraordinary spectacle of the hull of a large 
ship looming up among the houses, i'he Ni- 
atiiu, stripped of her masts and rigging, and 
propped with piles on each side, lay at the 
corner of Sansome and ( "lay streets and served 
for the storing of merchandi.se, and when the 
.May fire of 1851 consumed all but the deeper 
parts of her hull and some of her ribs, a hotel 
was built on the wreck and called the Niantic. 

In the first six months of 1849 fifteen thou- 
sand souls were added to the population of San 
Francisco ; in the latter half of that year about 
four thousand arrived every month bv sea alone. 
At first the immigrants were from M ' hile, 

Peru, and the South .\merican i)Oi l ^ ... rally ; 
but soon our own Americans began to swarm 
in, coming by way of Cape Horn and Panama, 
or across the plains ; and the number of these 
was swelled by the addition of thousands of 
deserters from the shipping, and by a straggling 
contingent from China. .Vustr.dia. an<l the Ha- 
waiian I.slands. Probably two thirds <jf these 
newcomers proceeded at once to the mines, 



544 



PIONEER DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO. 



but those that remained to try their fortunes 
in the city were enough to give to San Fran- 
cisco at the end of the year a population of 
twenty-five thousand — mostly men, young or 
of middle age, very few women, fewer chil- 
dren, with here and there a bewildered matron 
or maiden of good repute. Here were British 
subjects. Frenchmen, GeiTnans, and Dutch, 
Itahans, Spaniards, Norwegians, Swedes, and 
Swiss, Jews, Turks, Chinese, Kanakas, New 
Zealanders, Malays, and Negroes, Parthians, 
Medes, and Elamites, Cretes and Arabians, 
and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and Cappa- 
docia, in Boston and New Orleans, Chicago 
and Peoria, Hoboken and Hackensack. 

And how did they all Hve ? In frame-houses 
of one story, more commonly in board shanties 
and canvas tents, pitched in the midst of sand 
or mud and various rubbish and strange filth 
and fleas ; and they slept on rude cots, or on 
" soft planks " under horse-blankets, on tables, 
counters, floors, on trucks in the open air, in 
bunks braced against the weather-boarding, 
forty of them in one loft; and so they tossed 
and scratched, and swore and laughed, and 
sang and skylarked — those who were not tired 
or drunk enough to sleep. And in the working- 
hours they bustled, and jostled, and tugged, 
and sweated, and made money — always made 
money. They labored and they lugged : they 
worked on lighters, drove trucks, packed mules, 
rang bells, carried messages, " waited " in res- 
taurants, " marked " for billiard-tables, served 
drinks in bar-rooms, " faked " on the Plaza, 
" cried " at auctions, toted lumber for houses, 
ran a game of faro or roulette in the El Dorado 
or the Bella Union, or manipulated three-card 
monte on the head of a barrel in front of the 
Parker House ; they speculated in beach- and 
water-lots, in lumber, pork, flour, potatoes ; in 
picks, shovels, pans, long boots, slouch-hats, 
knives, blankets, and Mexican saddles. There 
were doctors, lawyers, politicians, preachers, 
even gentlemen and scholars among them ; but 
they all speculated, and as a rule they gambled. 
Clerks in stores and oftices had munificent sal- 
aries ; $5 a day was about the smallest stipend 
even in the custom-house, and one Baptist 
preacher was paid $10,000 a year. Laborers 
received a dollar an hour; a pick or a shovel was 
worth $10 ; a tin pan or a wooden bowl, $5 ; 
and a butchers' knife, $30. At one time the car- 
penters who were getting $ 1 2 a day struck for 
$16. Lumber rose to $500 per thousand feet, 
" and every brick in a house cost a dollar, one 
way or another." ^ Wheat flour and salt pork 
sold at $40 a barrel ; a small loaf of bread was 
fifty cents, and a hard-boiled egg a dollar. You 
paid $3 to get into the circus, and $55 for a 
private box. Men talked dollars, and a copper 
1 " Annals of San Francisco." 



coin was an object of antiquarian interest. 
Forty dollars was the price fo ordinary coarse 
boots ; and a pair that came above the knees 
and would carry you gallanly through the 
quagmires brought a round hundred. When 
a shirt became very dirty, the vearer threw it 
away and bought a new one. Washing cost 
$ 1 5 a dozen in 1 849. Rents were simply mon- 
strous: $3000 a month in advance bra "store" 
hurriedly built of rough boards, Wr' ght and Co. 
paid $75,000 for the wretched littie place on 
the corner of the Plaza that they called the 
Miners' Bank, and $36,000 was askevi for the 
use of the Old Adobe as a custom-house. The 
Parker House paid $120,000 a year in rents, 
nearly one half of that amount being collected 
from the gamblers who held the second floor ; 
and the canvas tent next door, used as a gam- 
bling-saloon, and called the EI Dorado, was 
good for $40,000 a year. From 10 to 15 per 
cent, a month was paid in advance for the use 
of money borrowed on substantial security. 
The prices of real estate went up among the 
stars : $8000 for a fifty-vara lot that had been 
bought in 1848 for $20. Yet, for all that, every- 
body made money, although a man might stare 
aghast at the squalor of his lodging, and wish 
that he might part with his appetite at any price 
to some other man. It was some such man as 
this who preserved the bill of fare of the Ward 
House for the dinner there on the 27th of 
October, 1849. 

Oxtail soup $1.00 

Baked trout, anchovy sauce 1.50 

Roast beef i.oo 

Roast lamb, stuffed i.oo 

Roast mutton, stuffed i.oo 

Roast pork, with apple sauce 1. 25 

Baked mutton, caper sauce 1. 25 

Corned beef and cabbage 1.25 

Ham I.oo 

Curried sausages I.oo 

Lamb and green peas 1.25 

Venison, wine sauce 1.50 

Stewed kidney, champagne sauce .... 1. 25 

Fresh eggs i-oo each 

Sweet potatoes 5° 

Irish potatoes 5° 

Cabbage 5° 

Squash 5° 

Bread pudding . . 75 

Mince pie 75 

Brandy peaches 2.00 

Rum omelette 2.00 

Jelly omelette 2.00 

Cheese 5° 

Prunes 75 

At the El Dorado Hotel at Hangtown (a 
mining-camp) the dainty menu offered " beef 
with one potato, fair size," $1.25; "beef, 
up along," $1; "baked beans, greased," 
$1 ; "new potatoes, peeled," 75 cents; "hash, 
low grade," 75 cents; "hash, 18 karats," 
$1; "roast grizzly," $1; "jackass rabbit, 




Vol. X I.I II -69 



546 



PIONEER DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO. 




OLD STORE-SHIP "APOLLO," USED AS A SALOON. 



and barrels. Men 
waded through the 
slough, and thought 
themselves lucky 
when they sank no 
deeper than their 
waists. Lanterns 
were in request at 
night, and poles in 
the daytime. In 
view of the scarcity 
and great cost of 
proper materials and 
labor, such make- 
shifts were the only 
means at hand. A 
traveler who came 
by sea in 1849 de- 
scribes with graphic 
interest " the pe- 
culiar construction 
of the sidewalk be- 
tween the store of 
Simmons, Hutchin- 
son & Co. and the 
' Adams Express of- 
fice." This place was 
bridged with cook- 
ing-stoves, sacks of 

whole," $1.50; "rice with brandy peaches," Chile flour,bagsofcoffee, and boxes of tobacco; 
$2; and "a square meal" for $3. "All pay- and one yawning pit was stopped with a piano, 
able in advance. Gold-scales on the end of Nevertheless, there were clumsy or drunken 
bar." But the small, cheap gold-scales cost pedestrians who would have sunk out of sight 
$30, and the coarse knives and forks not less but for timely rescue. Hittell tells of two horses 
than $25 the pair. that were left in the mud of Montgomery street 

The aspect of the streets of San Francisco to die of starvation, and of three drunken men 
at this time was such as one may imagine of who were suffocated between Washington and 
an unsightly waste of sand and mud churned Jackson streets. And yet the rains that were 
by the continual grinding of heavy wagons productive of conditions so desperate and 
and trucks, and the tugging and floundering deadly in the city brought showers of gold to 
of horses, mules, and oxen ; thoroughfares ir- the miners in the diggings, and the monthly 
regular and uneven, ungraded, unpaved, un- yield of dust and nuggets was three times 
planked, obstructed by lumber and goods; greater after November than it had been in 
alternate humps and holes, the actual dump- the summer. 

ing-places of the town, handy receptacles for Standing on the piazza of the Old Adobe 
the general sweepings and rubbish and inde- custom-house, on the upper side of the Plaza, 
scribable offal and filth, the refuse of an indis- or Portsmouth Square, and looicing eastward 
criminate population " pigging " together in across the open space, you had before you the 
shanties and tents. And these conditions ex- Parker House and Dennison's Exchange, cen- 
tended beyond the actual settlement into the ter and focus of all interest and all news to the 
chaparral and underbrush that covered the San Franciscan of '49; and adjoining the Par- 
sand-hills on the north and west. ker House, on the corner of the Plaza formed 
The flooding rains of winter transformed by the intersection of Kearney and Washing- 
what should have been thoroughfares into ton streets, was the El Dorado, most reckless 
treacherous quagmires set with holes and traps of gambling-resorts and phenix of many fires, 
fit to smother horse and man. Loads of brush- Amidships, on the north side of the square, was 
wood and branches of trees, cut from the hills, the original oflice of the " Alta California " 
were thrown into these swamps; but they served newspaper, a journal which terminated its ex- 
no more than a temporary purpose, and the istence only a few months ago; and adjoining 
inmates of tents and houses made such bridges that, the Bella Union and Washington Hall — 
and crossings as they could with boards, boxes, ahke infamous, the former as a den of gam- 



PIONEER n.WS f.V S.-1N F/i.LYC/SCO. 



547 



hling desperados and cutthroats, and tho hit- 
ter as a stew of polyglot debauchery. 

Southward, on the Clay street side "i uic 
I'la/a, and on tlie corner of Kearney street, 
was that historic adobe, the ohl City Hotel, 
the tirst important hostelry of Verba IJuena ; 
and when the i>lacers began to give out their 
treasures it was the heachpiarters of gambling 
miners, and overflowed with gold. " Scenes 
such as never before were ami never again 
will be witnessed," said the " Alta California," 
'• were common in the old City Hotel in 184.S 
anil "49." In the spring of '49 the building 
was leased for $16,000 per annum, cut up into 
small stores and offices, and sul)leascd at an 
enormous advance; but the City Hotel was 
"gobbled up" in the great fire of June, 1851. 
Higher up, on the south side, was Sam Bran- 
nan's office, where that redoubtable Mormon 
arraigned the " Hounds " before a concourse 



Leavenworth or a Geary; and midway be- 
tween the Old Adobe and the I'arker House 
stood the original Hag-staff, boldly I' ^ 

Cn<le Sam's title-dee<l to the land ^ 1. 
The Old A<lobe was a conspicuous landmark 
in the San I'rancisco of those wild times, and 
most dear to the memory of ever)" Forty niner. 
In the early days of the American occupation 
it had been used as a military barrack and 
guard-house, and later it became the first cus- 
tomdiouse of San Francisco. .\ sedate, drowsy- 
looking structure, with sturdy brown walls, a 
low-pitched roof, tiled in the true rancho fash- 
ion, a hjng, rickety porch with planking all adrift, 
and posts and railings elaborately whittled, the 
Old Adobe from its coign of vantage on the 
higher ground overlooked the I'la/.a and took 
note of the various de\ ilment that marked its 
reckless doings ; while, with that handy cross- 
beam at the south end of the porch, it seemed 




of exasjierated citi/ens, and demanded their 
summary stamping out. .Vcross the way, on 
the southwest corner of the Pla/a, was the lit- 
tle frame school-house — the first .school-house, 
which became, afterwani, a concert-hall for 
Steve .Masselt's musical eccentricities, an<l then 
a police-station for a most inefficient constab- 
ulary. Between the school-house and thesouth 
entl of the Old .Adobe was the alcalde's office, 
where justice was informally disjiensed by a 



to wait with cynical p.iiicui e until the ( 'imnig 
vigilance committee should l>ring their first 
victim their short shrift and their long rope. 
The ever-open portal admitteil you to a wi<le 
vestibule which divide*! the house into une«|ual 
wings, and showe«l you on one si<le the desks 
of the in.spectors and deputies, and on the other 
thesanctumof the< <»lle< lor — . ' ' !e 

an<ldapi)er little man whose >uj , '- 

nimity w as the admiration of the time and place, 



.Illillliiiilliillli^^^^^^^^^^ 




PIONEER n.WS IN SAN ERANCISCO. 



549 



imparting an air of repose and hos|)itality to all ral, njoral, and linanrial forte. Abounding in 

his surroundings, and making even his iron safe, ready resources of a mixed and mysterious 

which should have heen the grim receptacle of kind, and uns( ru|»ulous in the a])plication of 

the pubhi- treasure, seem but a pleasing an<l ihem ; themselves well stocked with the ad- 

conhiling joke, seeing that he usually kejjt it as venturer's courage, and their courage impos- 

open as his own countenance, and free to ilis- ingly backed up with six-shooters; numbering 

plav its golilen lining to the day. in their society, whether as j)rofessionals or 

On the 22(1 of June, 1.S51, the Old .Adobe amateurs, many of the '• first men " of the tity ; 

disappeared from the map of San Krancisco, having the largest .show of " smartness," if not 

swallowed up in that last great fire which de- of a finer intellectuality and higher wisdom; 

voured the City Hotel and the C ity Hosi)ital, of .sophisticated observation, reikless specula- 

ihe Jenny Lind Theater and the office of the tion, and, most imjjortant of all, cash ; paying 



"Alta California." Other adobe houses char- 
acteristic of the old California life were the 
Mowry dwelling ami the residence of .Senora 
iJriones, both on the northwestern skirt of the 
town. 'I'hese were all of one story, and roofed 
with tiles. The entrance was set fairly in the 
midtlle of the front, and there was usually a 
hall extending from the front to the back door 
antl etiually tlividing the house, so as to give a 
large sitting-room, which was also use<l for a 
guest-room, on one side of the hall, and on the 
other a bed-chamber in fnjnt an<l a kitchen at 
the back. In several of these houses the guest- 
room and the bed-chamber were Hooreil with 
tiles of marble in alternate black and white, 
antl the cornices showed some Hiir attempts at 
carving ; these apartments were always hospi- 
tably furnished, and on occasions of entertain- 
ment made pretensions to luxury. 

The j)ost-oflice of that time was a frame 
buiUling of one story and an attic on the cor- 
ner of Clay and Pike streets. There was but 
small accommodation here for clerks and 
" handlers," and still less for the imjjatient and 



the highest rents, monopolizing the mo.st de- 
sirable business sites ; prompt in applying 
every new and admirable improvement, com- 
mantling every comfort that invention or ex- 
pensive labor could supjjly, every luxury that 
fine raiment, and pictures, and shows, ami mu- 
sic, and wine, and a motley " work! of ladies " 
could stand for — no wonder that they swayed 
the city, and (arried the day with a high hand. 
For they paid twelve per cent, a month for 
money, and were ready to take all they coultl 
get at that i)rice, oftering securities in the good- 
will and fixtures of one "saloon " or another, a 
house, a lea.se, a water-lot, a bank. 

Moreover, the gambler of '49 was no vul- 
gar villain of the sordid stripe ; he had his as- 
pirations; it was proud game he hunted, and 
he put his own life into the cha.se. The law 
being to play fiiir or die, and the finest dis- 
tinctions of the mcuiii and //////// being defined 
by the pistol, it is ea.sy to understand that 
there were honest gamblers in San Francisco 
in '49 ; in fact, I will go so fiir as to assert 
that, as a class, no others were so strict and 



l)eremptory crowd of home-hungry men who punctual in all their dealings. No investment 

came daily, but most of all on mail-tlay, wliich was safer or more |)rofitable than a loan to a 

was once a month, and took the small w in- gambler ; no rightful claim was more easv of 

dows and loopholes by storm. To avoid confu- c<jllection. Nor v. ere the.se men, though most 

sion and tlangerous conflict, long (jueues were dangerous on certain points of professional 

formed, extemling from the windows along prerogative, by any means habitually (juarrel- 

Clay street to the Plaza, and along Tike street some. On the contrary, they were often the 

sometimes as far as Sacramento, and even to peacemakers of a fierce crowd whose ex|»lo- 

the chaparral beyond. Here traders, miners, sive pa.ssions were .stirred, constituting them- 

merchants, gamblers, and adventurers of every selvesanextemjxiraneous vigilance committee, 

complexion waited in their places, (jften from in the name of the law and order they hail 

the afternoon of one day, all night long, to the themselves set up for the occasion ; and then 

morning of the next, in the mud and the soak- woe to the refractorv ! 



ing rain, with weary limbs and anxious hearts. 
Men whose strength was une<iual to the strain 
were glad to employ others to hold their places 
for them through the long hours; and there 
were those who. while not seeking or expecting 
letters for themselves, secured good standings 
in the line before the coming of the crowd, 
only to sell their right of place to richer men 
w hose time was money. From ten to twenty 
dollars was a common jirice for such service. 
The gamblers of '49 constituted a con- 
trolling claj>s with whom was all the jthysi- 



As 1 have elsewhere .said, 

not uncommonly the professional faro-bankcr of 
'49 was a farmer-like .ind hnmts|)un man. with a 
kindlycomposition of features ;incl expression, pa- 
triarchal in his manners, a man to go to for ad- 
vice, abounding in instructive experiences of WW-, 
and full of benevolent leanings toward the world ; 
a man to lounge about the f)orticos of hotels, read- 
ing his '* .Aha," or the latest home papers, pro- 
jecting city improvements and public charities, 
discussing important enterprises, overhauling the 
businessof the ayuntnmienlo. considcrin ' c 
the slate of the country, defining the ■. 'f 



55° 



PIONEER DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO. 




OLD ADOBE, USED AS CUSTOM-HOUSE. 



Congress toward California, portraying the future 
of the State ; and then — starting out to make the 
round of the tables, and deliberately to set about 
" breakinsr the bank." I have known such a man 
to take, in one day and night, five out of seven 
monte banks, besides a faro bank or two, seat his 
own dealers at them to keep the game going, 
and then subside into his pipe and newspaper, 
his political economy and projects of benevolence. 
Of such was the fraternity that swayed the city 
in those days, and the secret of their paramount 
influence lay, partly, in their harmonious combi- 
nation of the preeminently American traits — a fac- 
ulty of taking accurately and at once the bearings 
of new and strange situations, fixity of purpose, 
persistence of endeavor, audacity of enterprise, 
ready hazard of life, ever fresh elasticity of san- 
guine temperament, but principally in the im- 
posing figures of an omnipotent cash capital, 
wherewith they knew how to feed the enormous 
cravings of the people, and mitigate their priva- 
tions and their pains. i 

The people eagerly accepted the treacherous 
comforts and solacements so seductively dis- 
played on the green cloth; and gambling be- 
came the recreation of the honest toiler or 
trader, as well as the revel of the reckless buc- 
aneer. While occupations were as various as 
the needs and makeshifts of those who had re- 
course to them, it may be said that in all that 
din and bustle and hurly-burly there was but 
one pursuit. Miners and boatmen, laborers, 
mechanics, and builders, merchants and clerks 
and peddlers, thimbleriggers and fakirs from 
the streets, lawyers, physicians, judges, clergy- 
men — all alike found a rapture in faro or bluff, 
a distraction in roulette or rondo, an edifying 
experience in monte or rouge-et-noir. The 
bar and the green table went into partnership, 
and, with a joint stock of cards and chips, de- 
canters, fiddles, and pictures, and reckless wo- 
1 J. W. Palmer, " The New and the Old." 



men, did a madly merry business. There were 
hundreds of such places where, in the evening 
and all night long, keen fellows, horribly quiet, 
shuffled the fateful cards with deadly delibera- 
tion, or where bedeviled wornen, horribly beau- 
tiful, greedy, and cruel, twirled roulette-wheels 
to the mockery of music. 

The great " saloons " were on the Plaza : all 
of the east side and the greater part of the 
north and south sides were given up to them. 
In each of these from ten to a dozen tables 
waited for players — for the man whose "blood 
was up," or the man who was bored, or the 
pleasant fellow who " might as well amuse him- 
self." The man whose blood was up usually 
began with a stake of a thousand dollars and 
ended with fifty cents, and lost it; and the 
pleasant fellow who would amuse himself usu- 
ally began with fifty cents and ended with a 
thousand dollars, and lost it; while the bored 
man won and won, and " took no interest." 
Piles of coin in gold and silver, bags of dust, 
and gold in nuggets, lay in the middle of the 
table ; and the game went on in sweet repose 
and pensiveness, not even broken when the 
stakes were at their highest, and the spectators, 
standing three lines deep, waited for the luck 
of " that long-haired stranger who came to 
break the bank." 

" Everybody gambled " — that was the excuse 
for everybody else. The pheiiomenal exception 
was the man who, having lost his all at three- 
card monte on the head of a barrel in the 
Plaza, was thereupon seized with acute com- 
punctions on moral grounds, and a luminous 
theory of the ratio of chances. " While profits 
and wages were so high, while there were no 
homes, no comfort or decency to be found in 
lofts and bunks, men thought to take refuge in 
riotous excess, seeking for rest and recreation 



PIONEER n.\ YS IN SAN FRANCISCO. 



55' 



in i^ambling-hclls, and bar-rooms, and dance that tlicy had sown tlic winil to reap the whirl- 
houses."' To find the few virtuous and worthy wind. The C'liinese <|uarter in .San Irancisco 
women of that time, you must have sought for l»ei ame, it was charged, a hotbed of depravity 
tliem in tents and makeshift harbors, safely and crime. The o|)ium-habit spread among 
withdrawn from the public gaze, or else in the the white y<nuh of both sexes, an<l fetid dens 
struggling beginnings of churches that feebly were open day and night." - The oath of a 
held their little forts against the banded forces Chinaman became a joke in the courts, and 
of a multifarious godlessness. it was proved that in the Chinese cpiarter re- 
From the upi)er corner on Washington street wards were covertly offered for the slaying of 
to the lower corner on Clay street, the |)eople innocent witnesses. Thus anti-Chinese legis- 
filcd across the IMa/.a, between the ( )ld .\dobe lation, for the suppression of the ( 'hinese high- 
and the I'arker House, in an unending proces- binder, became a foregone conclusion, 
sion, or broke into motley groups of many Hut there are Chinese and Chinese ; they are 
colors and many tongues, and loitered by the not all coolies and highbinders. In " Little 
tlag-stafT, among the trucks, and the oxen, and China," as the district which includes Uupont 




tr^ ■«•«■* 




'J v.- ""•»» 






^k'J _. 

CORNEK OF rue. I-LAZA, KEUKl'AKY, 1850. 








the mules, the .stalls of the small venders, 
and the handy bo.xes and barrels of the fakirs 
and thimbleriggers, and the dealers of three- 
card monte ; while from time to time some 
jingling ranchero, iticturescjue in scrape, som- 
brero, and silver bell-buttons, and heeled with 
formidable spurs, would come caracoling across 
the scjuare, making a circus of himself for the 
delectation of senora and madame. Always 
conspicuous among these was the ubicjuitous 
Chinaman, "child-like and bland," but slyly 
twinkling with the ( onscious smartness of ways 
that are as hard to find out as the thimble- 
rigger's pea, which he so cunningly resembles. 
There is record of two Chinese men and one 
woman who came to California on the bark 
.£'<7i'-/r from Hong-Kong in 1848. Hy February, 
1850, these had been followed by 787 men and 
two women, and still they came. Heginninginthe 
mines, they spread into the farms and gardens, 
and thence into workshops and factories, out- 
bidding the Caucasian with longer hours of 
work and smaller pay. "'I'hen the men who 
had given them employment. disj)lacing the 
.\merican and Kuro|)ean workmen, soon found 
1 '• Annals of San l-ranci^co. " 



Street and the upper part of Sacramento street 
is called, were many respectable and wealthy 
Chinese merchants, men who trafficked in the 
goods and wares of their country, and were re- 
gartled by tlieir Caucasian neighbors as shrewd, 
polite, and well informed, having consideration 
for their social caste, holding themselves aloof 
from the washermen and the porters, and, so 
far as the exigencies of their business permitted, 
living retired. In common fliimess they were 
not to be reckoned with the keepers of gam- 
bling-dens, opium-joints, and brothels, but 
rather to be accepted as an honorable protest 
and appeal in the interest of that class of their 
people who are intlustrious, decent in their lives 
and manners, and of good report, who arc con- 
tented, peaceable, and thrifty, and who hold it 
a point of honor that the Chinaman who can- 
not pay his debts must kill himself for the credit 
of the survivors. 

Fven in tln)se <lays a sentiment of Sunday- 
ness might be fouml in the suburbs of S;in Fran- 
cisco ; and in an eijuestrian scamper to the 
Lagoon, the I'residio (theoM Spanish canton- 
ment), or the Mi>sion San Dolores, one might 

'-' S.iii I i.iiuiseii " ("lironiilf," Sfjitcmbcr "• lS90. 



55^ 



PIONEER DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO. 










MISSION SAN DOLORES — SUNDAY AFTERNOON. 



give his heart an airing. The Mission, so in- 
timately associated with the early history of 
Yerba Buena and the later San Francisco, 
though it had been projected ever since the 
discovery of the bay in 1769, was not founded 
till 1776. The site was a small, fertile plain, 
embosomed among green hills, about two miles 
from the center of the present city. Several 
rivulets of clear, sweet water mixed their 
streams to form the larger Mission Creek. Fur- 
ther north were the bleak and sterile sand-hills 
on which the site of the present city was pitched ; 
but the Presidio was more happily placed, and 
the small cove on the east, within the narrow 
entrance to the bay, afforded shelter and good 
anchorage. 

The old Mission Church of 1850 was a spa- 
cious building of adobe, very plain without and 
partly whitewashed, except the front, which was 
relieved by certain crude architectural decor- 
ations, and showed several handsome bells. 
The interior was somber, grim, and cold. On 
the walls were rude paintings of saints and 
sacred subjects, and tinsel ornaments decorated 
the altar. But mass was still celebrated in the 
gloomy pile for the spiritual comfort of a small 
company of worshipers, mostly women of the 
Spanish races. 

But the Mission was the favorite resort of 
holiday-makers from the city, especially of the 
Sunday revelers. Here bull-lights were held, 
and bear-baitings, and prize-fights of pugilists, 
and horse-races, and duels, and all the other 
mild diversions of the Forty-niner ; and bars 
and gambling-tables supplied abundantly the 
indispensable refreshment and risk. Over the 
plank road, constructed in 1850, came an end- 
less cavalcade of dashing equestrians of both 
sexes, and the highways extending southward 
to San Jose invited to pleasant excursions 
among green fields and hills.' 

But, after all, it was but a ghastly jollity, for 
under and all around it were destitution and 
disease, crime and despair and death. For the 
sick, the friendless, and the utterly broken there 



were, for many months, no infirmary, no hos- 
pital fund, no city physician. 

" Your honor, and gentlemen," said the ec- 
centric Mr. Krafft, addressing an imaginary 
ayuntamiento, " we are very sick, and hungry, 
and helpless, and wretched. If somebody does 
not do something for us we shall die ; and that 
will be bad, considering how far we have come, 
and how hard it was to get here, and how short 
a time we have been here, and that we have 
not had a fair chance. All we ask is a fair 
chance ; and we say again, upon our honor, 
gentlemen, if somebody does not do something 
for us, we shall die, or we shall be setting fire 
to the town first, and cutting all our throats." ^ 

For these were the times when scurvied men 
were landing from the ships, and men crippled 
with rheumatism, and wasted with dysentery, 
and delirious with pneumonia and typhoid 
fever, were taking refuge in the city, to find 
only the bare, wet earth for a bed, under a 
leaky tent, or a foul bunk in the loft of a shanty, 
where a man had never a chance to die like a 
man, because of the cruel, carousing crew in 
the den below ; no doctor, no nurse, no balm, 
no wine or oil, no cup of cold water, no de- 
cent deathbed. And so we found their poor, 
cold, silent corpses in lonely tents apart, or in 
the bush, or under the lee of a pile of lumber 
in Sacramento or Montgomery street ; and we 
dug a hole and buried them right there, and 
the city of San Francisco is their gravestone, 
and this story is their ei)itaph. 

Here is a passage from the address of the 
alcalde. Colonel John W. Geary, to the ayun- 
tamiento in August, 1849: 

At this time we are without a dollar in the 
public treasury, and it is to be feared the city is 
greatly in debt. You have neither an office for 
your magistrate, nor any other public edifice. 
You are without a single police officer or watch- 
man, and you have not the means of confining a 
prisoner for one hour ; neither have you a place 
to shelter sick and unfortunate strangers who 

1 J. W. Pahiier, " The New and llie Old." 



PIOXEI.K PAYS l\ SAX JRAXCISCO. 



553 



may be c.ibt ujum our shores, or to Ijury thcin 
when dead. Public improvements arc unknown 
in San Francisco. In short, you an- without a 
sinjjie requisite for the promotion of |)rosperity, 
for the protection of property, or for the mainte- 
nance of order. 

( )rj;ani/ecl bands of nifVians. including 
thieves, burglars, and roughs, ever ready with 
knife and pistol. roame<lun(hallengcd. Depre- 
dation and assault became familiar uuidents 



them fast boun<l \\ i'l> his •• 'I'hus saith the Lord 
your God ! " 

Most dangerous, and lur a lime most numer- 
ous, of the immigrant ( riminals who c ame to 
re( ruit the gangs of " Sy<lney-lown " were the 
old convicts and licket-of-leavc men from Van 
Dieinen's I, and and New South Wales, who 
feared n(jthing but the gallows anywhere, anil 
even that not at all in this land of devil-may- 
care, where prosecutors and witnesses were too 




" HOIM' 



in the life of the town. The (onHagrations 
which sul)se(iuenlly laid waste the most valu- 
able districts were traced or ascribed to the 
handiwork of'* Sy<lney coves"and " Hounds," 
who plundered untler cover of the general con- 
fusion and dismay incident to a great fire. 
And everywhere was the reckless apathy of 
•• ever)* man for his own hand," every man a 
law to himself, and the six-shooter his only 
constable, (^nly on a Sunday afternoon, on 
the i)ia/./a of the Old Adobe, was the voice of 
the prophet heartl in righteous rebuke and 
warning — the voice of brave old Fathtrr Tay- 
lor, lifted up in stentorian psalm and prayer, 
arresting the jiassini: miner and gambler, the 
"Sydney cove" and the cjurte/an,and holding 
'Vot-'.\I.III.-7o. 



busy to con< ern themselves w ith < ourts ; where 
judges were ignorant, careless, or corrupt; 
where trials were too costly for a bankrupt 
I itv ; and where a man miglit hi<le easily and 
utterly under an alias or an alibi, a pea-jacket 
or a serape, a smooth face or a ragged beard. 
The (|uarter known as '* Sydney-town," the 
" rive I'oints"an<l the *' .Seven Dials" of San 
Francisco, lay around tlark's I'oint, in Broad- 
way an<l Pacific street. Here a policeman 
hardly dared to enter, night was made hideous 
with ilebauihery and assaults, and for a few 
ounces a fellow could be hired to kill a man or 
fire a house, and no <|uestions asked. "Although 
hundreds of munlers had been committed " 
b\ the desj)erirte denizens of these and other 



554 



PIONEER DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO. 




THE FIRST HOTEL AT SAN FRANCISCO. 



quarters, " and many murderers had been ar- 
rested, not one had been hanged, either legally 
or at the hands of self-appomted execution- 
ers ; and the very courts themselves had be- 
come a by-word." ^ 

But the very excesses and intolerable out- 
rages of this state of things presently compelled 
their own stamping out by methods that were 
short and summary. On the 15th of July, 
1849, a gang of young men who called them- 
selves " Regulators, " but were commonly 
known as " Hounds," and who were the " Mo- 
hawks " and " thugs " and "plug-uglies" of 
that time, proceeded to " take the town " af- 
ter a fashion which they had made their own. 
This gang, which had been first heard of to- 
ward the close of 1848, began to make itself 
felt and feared in the spring of the following 
year. Under the pretense of mutual defense 
against the encroachments of foreigners, espe- 
cially Chileans, Peruvians, and Mexicans, they 
had adopted a sort of military organization 
with a regular headcjuarters, which they called 
Tammany Hall, in a tent near the City Hotel. 
They paraded the town in broad daylight, 
with flag and fife and drum, armed with re- 
volvers and bludgeons ; and at night, when 
the streets were dark and unguarded, they 
often raided saloons and taverns, eating and 
drinking at the charge of the proprietors, and 
afterward making a wreck of stock and furni- 
ture in the very devilment of wantonness and 
fun. 

Returning from a marauding excursion to 
the Contra Costa on the afternoon of Sunday, 
the 15th of July, they made the rounds of the 
town, equipped in fantastic toggery of ponchos 

1 San Francisco " Chronicle," Sei)tember 7, 1890. 



and Canton crape shawls, pillaged from Spanish- 
American and Chinese shops; and in the even- 
ing they marched upon the tents of the Chilenos, 
cuffing and kicking the women and children, 
and clubbing and shooting the men, tearing 
down the tents, destroying their scanty furniture, 
and plundering them of clothing and valuables. 
The limit of that criminal apathy which had 
so long passed for patience was reached at 
last. On the i6th the community of " all good 
citizens " met on the Plaza in response to a 
proclamation of Alcalde Leavenworth, who 
had been urged to vigorous action by a com- 
mittee of merchants and others. The meeting 
was organized with Mr. W. D. M. Howard as 
chairman and Dr. Fourgeaud as secretary. 
Sam Brannan addressed the multitude, and de- 
nounced the " Hounds," and the whole foul 
herd of criminals and miscreants, in unmeasured 
terms. A subscription was opened for the re- 
lief of those who had suffered by the outrages 
of the 1 5 th ; a volunteer police force was organ- 
ized, consisting of 250 special constables, armed 
with muskets and revolvers, and commanded 
by Captain W. E. Spofford ; and that same 
afternoon twenty of the " Hounds," including 
Sam Roberts, their leader, were captured and 
lodged on board the United States ship IVar/cn. 
On Tuesday a grand jury of twenty-four citizens 
found a true bill against the prisoners, who were 
brought to trial on Wednesday before a jury 
specially impaneled. Sam Roberts and his mate, 
Saunders, were sentenced to ten years' im- 
prisonment with hard labor, and the others to 
shorter terms with fines. But these penalties 
were never enforced. Several of the leaders 
were sent out of the country, the rest were set at 
liberty; and although the ''Hounds" were muz- 



riONEER DAYS IX SAX IRA NCI SCO. 



555 



to be the only one in California ; the charge 
for admission was $3, and $16 was the jtrice 
paid for removing the piano from the custom- 
house to the school- house, half-way across the 



zled, other criminals and desperados, more House (afterward the City I lall), the St. l-ran- 
daring and dangerous than they, were encour- cis, the Cnion (destroyed in the fire of May 4, 
aged to show a bold front and strike deadlier 1851), the ( )riental, the Tehama, Wilson's Kx- 
blows. 'J'he famous \igilance Committee of change, the Rasettc House, and others. 
1851, with its swift and tragic executions, was 'Ihe public amusements of San Kranci.sco 
the inevitable response to the general cry for may be said to have begun at the old .school- 
retribution and protection.' house on the Pla/a on the evening of June 

The hotelsof San I'rancisco may be regarded 22, 1849, when Mr. Stephen C. Massett a|>- 
as the consummate product of that ijrimitive peared in a sort of musical monologue, with 
system of coarse feeding-i)laces which began recitations and imitations. The small room 
in 1848 in the makeshifts of a mining camp, was filled, " front seats " being " reserved " for 
and wasileveloped in the growth of ".saloons " the four ladies who were present. The piano 
and restaurantsofevery imaginable description: used on this occasion was loaned by Mr. Har- 
dining-rooms, chop-houses, cabarets, and fon- rison, the collector of the port, and w as said 
das. There were cooks for every people and 
tribe under the sun — .American, English, CJer- 
man, French, Italian, Chilean, Mexican, Chi- 
nese, Kanaka, Negro. There were l)ecf and 
mutton from the ranches, fish from the 
bay and rivers, bear, elk, antelope, hare, 
s(|uirrel. <iuail, duck, snipe, and plover 
from the inland hills and valleys, vege- 
tables from the Pacific islands, and fruits 
from more distant ports. A hungry man 
might make a tolerable meal on beef 
at fifty cents, jjork or mutton at seventy- 
five cents, a dozen canned oysters for a 
dollar, and a baked ])otato for half a 
dollar ; or if his api)etite was dainty anil 
his pouch full, he might intlulge in roast 
duck at five dollars, l)roiled quail at two 
dollars, and " loj) otit"" with sardines and 
pale lit- foic ;^ras regardless of expense. 

Mr. Winn, the proprietor of the 
Fountain Head and Pranch, arrived 
in San Francisco in 1849 without a 
dollar. He started business by making 
candy with his own hands, and peddling 
it about the streets on a tray slung from 
his shoulders by a pair of old suspenders. 
The San Francisco " Commercial Ad- 
vertiser" of the 6th of April, 1854, notes that Plaza. In 1849 and 1 850 there were e(iuestrian 
.\Ir. Winn " paid for ice and eggs last season anil acrobatic performances in tents, — Rowe's 




TIIK FIRSr SCUUOL-MOUSB, SAN FRANCISCO. 



(five months), $28,000; for one month's ailver 
tising, $1600 ; receipts at his two houses aver- 
age $57,000 a month ; has ])aid $200 a month 
for water; to one man in his employ, $1000 
a month and his board ; has i)aid $3000 for 
j)Otatoes, and $5000 for eggs, for the .same 
time; and fed |)oor and hungry people at a 
daily cost to him of $20." 

The first of the San Francisco hostelries, in 
point of time, was the old City Hotel, which 
was built of adobes in 1S46 at the corner of 
Clay and Kearney streets, and, until after the 

discovery of gold, was the only notable pub- building known as the New Jenny Find, after- 
lie hou.se. Then followed, in 1849 and the sue- ward the City Hall, was opened on the 4th of 
ceeding years, the Parker House, the (Jraham October, 1851, and the .Xmerican Theater on 

, ^ , . . , V- . . .^ L Sansome street on the 20lh.'- 
• Sec this niaF.izine lor NovcmlxT anil iJccembtT, -,., • 1 1 „.. , .^ .i,„ in , , , . 
jg^^i *' Hie school-house on the ria/a \\;is JpllIl'- 
- " .\nnal> of San 1- ranci-co." priated as a place of |jublic worshij) in October, 



and Foley's circuses, — and in January, 1850, 
the first dramatic performance was given in 
Washington Hall, " The ^\■ife " and " Charles 
II." being indiherently jjlayed by a small com- 
pany to a large audience. In April, 1850, a 
French vaudeville company appeared in a 
neat little house on Washingtcm street near 
.Montgom*-y, and, in .September following, the 
original Jenny Find Theater offered its attrac- 
tions over the Parker House saloon on Kear- 
ney street, ihis house was destroyed in the 
fire of May, 1851. The large brick and stone 



556 



PIONEER DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO. 



1848, the services being conducted by the Rev. 
Dwight Hunt, a missionary from the Sandwich 
Islands, who is remembered as the first Protes- 
tant clergyman in California. The little house 
was filled at every meeting, and on the first Sun- 
day in January, 1849, the first Sacrament of 
the Lord's Supper was administered to twelve 
communicants of difterent denominations. 
That congregation was composed of people 
who were not hampered by sectarian preju- 
dices, or concerned to cavil about creeds and 
forms, llie steamship California, which ar- 
rived in February, brought four missionaries 
from New York — Messrs. Wheeler, Baptist, 
and Woodbridge, Douglass, and Willey, Pres- 
byterians. On the I St of April the steamer Ore- 
gon brought the Rev. Albert Williams, who, 
after preaching for a while in the school-house, 
on the 20th of May organized the first Protestant 
society ir. the new city, — the "First Presbyterian 
Church," — which was started with six mem- 
bers. In this small but notable group were Sarah 
B. Gillespie of the Presbyterian Missionary 
Church at Macao, China, and Mr. Frederick J. 
Bilhngs, of the First Congregational Church 
at Woodstock, Vermont. This gentleman, by 
the early and earnest part he took in the moral 
sanitation of the city, won for himself an hon- 
orable name in her annals as a conspicuous 
pioneer in all good works ; he was associated 
with General Halleck in the practice of law. 
The place of worship of this brave little con- 
gregation was on Dupont street in a tent that 
had been the marquee of a military company 
in Boston. This temporary accommodation 
was superseded in the fall of 1850 by a church 
edifice, complete with pulpit, pews, lamps, and 
bells, which was brought out from New York 
and set up in Stockton street near Broadway; 
but five months later it was burned, in the 
great fire of June 2, 1851. Although this 
represented the first religious society organ- 
ized in San Francisco, it was preceded as a 
church edifice by the " First Baptist Church," 
on Washington street between Dupont and 
Stockton streets, erected to accommodate the 
congregation gathered by the Rev. O. C. 
Wheeler, who had arrived in the Caiifoniia in 
February, 1849. Then followed the " First 
Congregational Church," organized in July, 
1849; "Trinity Church" (Episcopftlian), and 
Grace Chapel, under the rectorship of that de- 
voted missionary. Dr. Vermehr, who, in Feb- 
ruary, 1854, resigned the principal charge to 
Bishop Kip. 

The early Roman Catholic " Church of St. 
Patrick," in Happy Valley, with its school and 
orphan-asylum, and those at the Mission San 
Dolores and in Vallejo street, were largely at- 
tended, and services were held in English. 
French, and Spanish. Jewish synagogues and 



Buddhist temples have their place in the re- 
ligious history of the city, which, beginning 
with the Mormon elder, Sam Brannan, became 
in time worthy of the ministrations of Bishops 
Alemany and Kip ; and no man did more to 
pilot her skittish flock to nobler heights than 
that brave, pertinacious, and magnetic Meth- 
odist, ^Villiam Taylor, whose church was the 
open Plaza, and his pulpit the porch of the 
Old Adobe. 

On the 4th of January, 1849, ^^"^^ "Califor- 
nian," which in November, 1848, had been con- 
sohdated with the " Star," changed its name to 
the " Alta California." At first it appeared as 
a weekly, then three times a week, and finally 
it became the first daily paper in California. 
Then came in quick succession the "Journal 
of Commerce," the " Pacific News," and the 
" Daily Herald." On the ist of August ap- 
peared the " Picayune," the fifth daily, but the 
first evening paper. These were followed by 
the " Courier," the " Chronicle," the " Bulle- 
tin," and others, including German, French, 
Italian, Spanish, and even Chinese newspapers, 
all of them marked in a greater or less degree 
by the ability, enterprise, pluck, and vim which 
are the characteristics of the country. 

In describing the familiar features which 
should appear in a picture of the San Fran- 
cisco of those golden years, the auction is not 
to be forgotten — that last resort of the con- 
signee or supercargo who could find no stor- 
age for his shipment, no ready purchaser at 
any price. There were neither wharves nor 
warehouses to accommodate the overflowing 
freights brought by incoming fleets of mer- 
chantmen. Lighterage from ship to shore cost 
four dollars a ton, and the monthly rate for 
storage was ten dollars a ton. Perishable goods 
were often a total loss ; cargoes were, in some 
cases, reshipped to the Atlantic States with- 
out breaking bulk. Excessive and indiscrim- 
inate shipments could but result in wholesale 
waste and recklessness, and the only relief was 
to be found in auctions of a slap-dash kind, 
conducted by any man who might see fit to 
put up a sign near the water-front. 

At first the principal landing-place was at 
Clark's Point, where the water was deep at 
the rocky shore; but by October, 1850, there 
were wharves of considerable length at Mar- 
ket, California, Sacramento, Clay, Washington, 
Jackson, and Pacific streets. The aggregate 
length of all the wharves exceeded six thou- 
sand feet, and the cost to that date amounted 
to a round million. 

The famous clippers which had excited the 
admiration of the world of men who " go down 
to the sea in ships" by the beauty of their lines, 
their buoyant grace, and their capacity to carry 
great spreads of canvas, were racing against 



PIOXEER D.IVS J.\ SAX FRANCISCO. 



557 



lime arountl Cape Hum to lainloii the wharves 
of San Francisco cargoes for which tliere might 
be no market, but at rates of freight tliat nearly 
paid the tost of the sliip in a single run. Those 
were the days of the iiray /uix/i'and the Gray- 
lioiuiil^ the Whiti Si/Uii//vLm\ the Flyiii;^ Cioiii/, 
the 71///rv//and the 7'r<hie /////(/, and the St>7- 
cn-i::,noJthc Stas — true couriers and wild riders 
of tile main, that made the very storms their 
servants. 

On Telegrapii Hill — on the very spot where 
in 1S47 our citi/en of W-rba lUiena IkhI stood 



was made in not less than seven or eight days, 
'* fares, $30 cabin, $20 deck, and $5 extra for 
berths; meals on board, $2." In 1.S35 a good 
boat ( ould make the distan« e in half a day. 

It is usual to speak of the conllagrati(;ns 
which from time to lime laid waste the most 
l)opulous and bustling jiarts of San Francisco 
as the "great fires," because any one of them 
sufficed to fill the measure of a citizen's con- 
ception of ruthless devastation and dismay. 
There were six of them, beginning with that 
of Christmns Kve. 1^4*). Then thin boards 




I.nlX".ING-IIOlSK INTEUl 



wat( hing the in( oniing of the Brooklyn with her 
dispen.sation of Mormons — Messrs. Sweeny 
and Baugh erected early in 1849 a lookout, or 
observatory, whi« h commanded the a])])roach 
and entran( e to the (iolden date, and by means 
of a code of signals kept their patrons of the 
city informed of the apj)roach of vessels of 
every class, from coasting craft to man-of-war. 
.\t a later day a station was established nearer 
the ocean,which transmitted earlier intelligence 
by signaling the inner telegraph-house. 

Intil the fall of 1849 small .schooners and 
launches had afllorded the only means of navi- 
gation acro.ss the bay and up the Sacramento 
and San Joa<iuin rivers; but in .September a 
little iron steamer called the I^oncer began to 
ply the waters of the Sacramento, and was 
shortly followed bv the J/////, the steam-pro- 
peller .l/tAV///.and ihe Sriiafor. At first the run 



ami lath, ami tlimsy cotton cloth, and painted 
canvas, were licked up like tinder by the lap- 
ping tongues of flame. The fire began in Den- 
nison's Exchange, on the I'la/a, in the early 
morning. That notable landmark of the For- 
ty-niner, the Parker House, and all the build- 
ings on Kearney street between Clay antl 
\N a.shington streets, were obliterateil from the 
map «)f the city. It was the work of minutes, 
ami the lo.ss was a million. On May 4, 1850. 
the second great fire broke out on the site of 
the first, and swept away in its amazing rush 
and roar three entire blocks in the heart of the 
« ity. This time the loss was four millions. In 
the first conflagrati«»n it was the gamblers who 
had chiefly sufi'ered; now it was the merchants. 
Six weeks later, on the 14th of June, when the 
wintl was high, the entire district l)ounded by 
Clav and California streets, Kearney street and 



558 



PIONEER DA YS IN SAN FRANCISCO. 



II|ll»ll(;il{lli;i|ia!ll]llill'[l{lli!lillllllllllllllllfl!llllll'll;i!II(llilli1i<il]ll<1llllf]J1ll|l!llll!!(l,''l|lllliL^^ 




FREDERICK J. BILUNGS. 



the water's edge, was swept away, buildings and 
goods being almost totally consumed. 

On the 4th of May, 1851, the anniversary 
of the second great fire, the city was desolated 
by a conflagration which is remembered as the 
great fire. It made a jest and mock of " fire- 
proof" buildings, and iron frames and doors 
and shutters curled up in the flames like card- 
board. It began late on the night of the 3d, 
in a store on the south side of the Plaza. The 
wind rose with the flames, and whirled them 
south and north ; the streets beneath tlie 
planking became great flues ; the whole busi- 
ness part of the city was a roaring furnace ; 
and the reflection is said to have been visible 
in the sky at Monterey, a hundred miles away. 
Ten hours sufficed for the destruction of nearly 
two thousand houses ; eighteen whole squares, 
with portions of five others, in the most im- 
]:)ortant part of the city, were almost totally 
obliterated, and the loss was estimated at $12,- 
000,000. On what had been the streets, men 
said, " Well, the bay is here, and the people 
are here, and the placers are left ! " And they 
went straightway to work antl built a new city, 
richer, stronger, handsomer than before. Hit- 
tell says of these fires that they exercised an 
important influence upon the politics and trade 
of the city. "The fire of May, 1851, was at- 
tributed to incendiarism. The amount of proj)- 
erty exposed in the streets was so great that the 



citizens banded themselves into a committee of 
vigilance, which soon extended its jurisdiction 
antl hanged murderers as well as protected 
property. Merchants put their goods into store- 
ships, and the harbor was filled with old hulks 
until 1854, when brick stores, really fire-proof, 
began to furnish room and safety on shore. 
Unable to make bricks or cut stone except at 
terrific cost, orders were sent abroad for incom- 
bustible building materials. Granite was brought 
from China or from Quincy, lava from Hono- 
lulu, and bricks from Sydney, London, and New 
York." Out ofthe ruin and waste sprang new life, 
new forces, higher hopes, and nobler endeavors. 

By 1852 the characteristics of a Spanish 
town had well-nigh disappeared from San Fran- 
cisco. From Clark's Point to the Rincon, all 
had become American. The jingHng ranchero, 
ostentatiously sombrero'd and bespurred, had 
been superseded by equipages familiar in 
the Eastern cities ; omnibuses plied between 
the Plaza and the Mission; the " steam paddy " 
was busy in Happy Valley; and the sand-hills 
at the back of the town were being dumped 
into the water-lots in front. The city was mov- 
ing bayward, and new streets were growing 
upon piles. •' Where once floated ships of a 
thousand tons, now were great tenements of 
biick securely founded in the solid earth." 

The sleepy little Verba Buena of 1847 had 
become a metropolis of factories and great 



PIONEER DAYS AV SAN FRANCISCO. 



559 



stores, of schools aiul thurchcs, of newspapers invested all his means in the sterile saml-lots 

and theaters, of benevolent institutions and of Verba lUiena, and waited for the coming 

public works, of stage-coaches and mails, ex- of the great city he foresaw, 

presses and steamers ; a city of brilliant bustle The records of that parent society were dc- 

and magnitu ent tlissipations. lUit a dollar was stroyed in the great fire of May, 185 i, with the 

no longer paid for a pill, nor ten dollars for an exception of one book containing the consti- 

ounce ofcarpet-ta( ks; for everybody was try- tution and (he signaturesof a few members. 'I he 

ing to sell, antl everywhere was glut in sj^ite of officers, w ho had been chosen to serve atwelve- 

tlie ravenous extravagance and waste. Auc- month,were compelled by thcexigcnciesof that 

tioneers tossed off .shii)-loads of merchandise memorable period of disaster, danger, and tur- 

fora song, and the enormous loss fell upon the moil to hold their res])e( tive places for three 

foreign shippers; so '' happy go-lucky " was years; but in the imjjosing demonstration by 

the temper of the hour, and a canter to the which the admission ofCalifornia into the Union 

I'residio or the Mission, or a pii nic- excursion of States was celebrated on the 29th of October, 

to the Contra Costa, was the usual diversion 1S50, the Society of Pioneers appeared in force, 

in the intervals of business. and made a conspicuous impression by their 

In August, 1850, the Society of California moral and intellectual prestige. On the 6th of 

I'ioneers was called into being. mainly through July, 1853. the as.sociation, whi( h owing to the 

the inthience and efforts of Messrs. Howard, local troubles had so long been unable to meet, 

llrannan, Bryant, Wadsworth, Folsom, and was reorganized at the Oriental Hotel, when 

others; and its first appearance as a civic or- Mr. I'rannan was elected {/resident; Messrs. 

ganization, preceding all others in California, I,arkin,Snytler,and Lippincolt,vice-presi«lenLs; 

was in the public obsecjuies a[)pointed to honor and William Tecumseh Sherman, treasurer. The 

the memory of Presitlent Zachary Taylor, on society as at jiresent constituted is a .social and 

the J9th of that month. The officers first benevolent, as well as a historical, scientific , and 




<■• - ^«^- 






drnnison's sxchanck and pxrkkr house, ukfokk tub fikk of ubcrmiikk, 1S49. 



elected were Messrs. H oward, president ; Bran- 
nan and Snyder, vice-presidents ; Bryant, Bar- 
ker, Kolsom.and Wadsworth, secretaries; and 
Talbot 11. (ireen, treasurer. .Among these a.s- 
sociated pioneers Captain Folsotii was a con- 
spicuous figure. He came to California as a 
staft-ofiicer in the (juartermaster's department 
of Stevenson's regiment, and was eventually 
made chief of that department on the North 
Pacific coast. With notable foroight, long be- 
fore the apparition of the golden wizard, he 



literary as.sociation ; and its objects arc to col- 
lect and preserve information relating to the 
early settlement and subsecjuent history of the 
country, and "in all appropriate matters to ad- 
vance the interests and perpetuate the memory 
of those whose s;iga( ity ;.nd enterprise induced 
them to settle in tlie wildernos anil become the 
founders of a new State." 

In the im|)ressive list of honorary members 
and distinguished guests who in the i^ast have 
imparted tli.>,tinction to the meetings of this 



560 



PIONEER DA YS IN SAN FRANCISCO. 




liJIiUliiilliil!!^! . i.i i i.. 

PHOTOGRAPHED BY TABER. 



CAPTAIN J. L. FOLSOM. 



m 



most interesting association are to be found the Originally it was a condition of member- 
names of Generals Sherman, Rosecrans, Wool, ship that the applicant should have arrived in 
Fremont, Halleck, Schofield, Sutter, and Val- California prior to the ist of January, 1850; 
lejo, and the Revs. Henry VV. Bellows and but the constitution has since been amended 
Thomas Starr King. so as to admit the sons of pioneers. 



John Williamson Palmer. 





^, 




TlIK CAI.II wKMAS MoVtMENT. (AFTER A UKAWINU IN " PINCH.") 




THE UA'^ An 



COUIO N'T WtIT rOR THC irCAllCII. 



''I^Ill'i late summer months of 1848 were 
i- marked by exciting rumors of the discov- 
ery of gohl in California. The first reports, 
coming as they did through Mormon chan- 
nels, were received with suspicion. There was 
a general concurrence of opinion that the story 
had been set afloat for the purjiose of Mormon 
proselytism — in the hope that out of llie army 
of westward-bound pilgrims which such ru- 
mors would put in motion a legion of new re- 
cruits to the Mormon faith might be induced 
to halt by the way and cast in their temjioral 
and spiritual fortunes with the.se " latter-day 
saints" in the infant colony by the margin of 
the (ireat Salt Lake. But in September, this 
suspicion in the public mind was effectually 
dispelled by the receijtt in Washington of 
official iles|)at<hes from Thomas (). Larkin, — 
who, under Mexican dominion, had been. \mer- 
ican consul at Monterey, and who was still 
a( ting as the ( onlidential agent of the govern- 
ment, — Mr. Larkin's despatches confirming 
the reports of the di.scovery of gold. 

In the New England .States the "gold fe- 
ver "soon became epidemic. .Among the young 
men there was a burning desire to set out for 



CAl'l'. IIORX AM) COOPI'kA'I I\'l' 
MIXIXC. IX 49. 



California, inspired i)erhai»s as much by an 
intense yearning for adventure as by dreams 
of wealth. To New Englanders, remote from 
the new El Dorado and to a large extent a 
maritime people, an ocean voyage pre>ented 
itself as the most practicable route. 

Naturally enough, the formation of coop- 
erative associations suggested itself as the 
mo.st practicable method of proceeding. The 
first move in this direction was made by Mr. 
Timothy Rix, a Boston nv rchant. .Although 
then past middle life, Mr. Rix was full of 
energy and ambition, and under his leadership 
was organized " The Boston and California 
Mining and Trading Joint Stock Company." 
the fortunes of which this narrative is to chron- 
icle. A prospectus was issued, ami applications 
for membership were invited. The shares were 
placed at three humlred dollars each, and the 
whole number of members was limited to one 
hundreil and fifty. The first public notice call- 
ing attention to the organization brought hun- 
dreils of applications for membership. The 
roll was soon filled, and from the overflow 
new organizations were started, and in due 
course followed the example of the parent com- 
I)any. Captain Henry Smith, who had sailed 
for many years as commander of the vessels 
of Frederick Tudor, the old Boston menhant 
who originated the ice trade with the West 
Indies and southern ports, was chosen to act 
in the double capacity of president of the com- 
jiany and commander of a ship, Mr. Rix tak- 
ing the vice-presidency and the writer being 
chosen as secretary.' The company was com- 
posed of men representing every calling in 
mechaniral and professional life. There were 



1 The Hoard of Directors who wire to have tlic M.^ns. ; John i-.. 1 >ix, oi li..,t<m ; .\biel Carici, >ii 

practical management of the afl^air^ of the company (.Oncoril, \. 11.; K«iwar«l V. .•\l)l)C, of Boston; I.u- 

were Enoch Jaohs, of Chicopee. Mass. ; William A. cius I'lagg, of lioston ; I. C. Whipple, of Concord, 

Kgery, of Uoston ; James L, Bates, of Wcyntouth, N. H. 



579 



58o 



CAPE HORN AND COOPERATIVE MINING IN '49. 



graduates of New England universities, and 
young men whose future was yet undefined 
by any calling or profession. Of the whole 
number of the 150 members who composed 
the expedition, 120 had not passed their thir- 
tieth year, 85 were twenty-five or under, 33 
were twenty-one or under, while 12 were not 
yet " out of their teens." 

The ship finally selected and purchased for 




FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TA8ER. 




the voyage was the Edivard Everett^ one of 
the " Medford built " craft for which Boston 
had long been celebrated. She was a full- 
rigged ship of about 800 tons burden. She 
had been built for the European trade, was 
comparatively new, and ranked as one of the 
finest ships hailing from Boston. She was 
spacious between decks and otherwise well 
adapted for the purpose. 

The organization of this unique expedition, 
and its approaching departure, was for the time 
being the chief topic of the day. Mr. Everett, 
with wise forethought and liberality, presented 
to the company a well-selected library of his- 
torical, biographical, and scientific works, ac- 
companying the gift with a communication 
expressing the great interest which he in com- 
mon with the public at large felt in the success of 
the company and in the part which those who 
composed it would take in the social and polit- 
ical organization of the new State which they 
doubtless would help to found. The Sunday be- 
fore the ship sailed the members of the company 



attended the Ashburton Place church by special 
invitation to listen to a sermon by the Rev. Dr. 
Kirk, on the part that this first expedition from 
New England was expected to perform in the 
cause of civilization and religion on the Pa- 
cific coast. In all circles the prospective de- 
parture of the '■'■ Edwafd Eirrett Expedition," 
as it had now come to be known, was an event 
of rare interest and was the current topic of 
discussion and speculation. The Edward 
Everett swung loose from her moorings at 
the wharf on the evening of January 11, 1849, 
and dropped down the harbor to an anchorage 
near Fort Independence, preparatory to put- 
ting to sea on the morning tide. The harbor 
was filled with floating ice, and the wind swept 
across our decks with arctic severity. 

At daybreak on the morning of the 12th the 
ship was under way and standing out to sea 
before a fresh and bitterly cold northwester. 
I pass over the unpleasant first days of the 
earlier part of the voyage, when the wild win- 
try weather covered decks and rigging with 
frozen spray, and two-thirds of the ship's com- 
pany were prostrated from sea-sickness. The 
balmier atmosphere of the Gulf Stream and a 
smoother sea soon brought about a happier con- 
dition of affairs. The company was organized 
into messes, and order took the place of the 
chaos that had unavoidably prevailed for the 
first few days. Plans were devised for social 
organization and recreation. The publication 
of a weekly newspaper, under the title of 
" The Barometer, or Gold Hunter's Log," was 
begun and faithfully kept up throughout the 
voyage. Press and types were wanting, but it 
was read from manuscript every Saturday to 
the assembled ship's company, and furnished 
one of the most prolific sources of amusement 
of the whole voyage. 

The I St of February found us drifting through 
the weed-matted surface of the " Sargasso Sea," 
with hardly wind enough to keep the ship's 
sails from slatting against her spars. The 
run off the coast, across the Gulf Stream, and 
through the Atlantic down to the latitude of 
the Madeiras, had been a lively one. The wind 
had been fresh and fair enough to satisfy even 
the skipper himself From ■^■^P north latitude, 
down to and through " the Sargasso Sea," it 
was like a doldrum drift, and welcome was the 
change when in about 21° north the ship be- 
gan to feel the influence of the northeast trades. 
Straight on her course, the wind on her port 
quarter, with everything set to her main sky- 
sail, she bowled along day after day until we 
were within two degrees of the equator. " Run- 
ning down the trades" was indeed the very 
poetry of sea-going. It brought men and boys 
alike on deck, put them fairly on their " sea 
legs," and made sailors of them in good or bad 



582 



CAPE HORN AND COOPERATIVE MINING IN '4Q. 



weather for the remainder of the voyage. On 
the 13th of February the Edward Everett lay, 

As idle as a painted ship 
Upon a painted ocean — 

fairly upon the equator. Some three miles 
away to the northwestward was another ship, 
which by her rig was unmistakably an Ameri- 
can craft. Yet so flat was the calm that her 
signals hung idly against the halyards. A boat 
was lowered, and a party of us started for an 




'■^;iC?« 



equatorial visit to the stranger. She proved to 
be the Aurora from Nantucket, an old whaler, 
worm-eaten and dilapidated in her upper works, 
sorely afflicted with dry-rot, and looking as 
though she would not last to reach Cape Horn, 
much less to round that formidable point and 
complete her voyage. Compared to the Ed- 
ward Everett she was a crazy old tub indeed. 
Months afterward, when our anchor was let go 
in the harbor of San Francisco, we found our- 
selves within hailing distance of this same old 
" blubber-hunter," which had made the port 
nearly two weeks in advance of us ! She was 
the type of a class of vessels that were pressed 
into service during the California excitement, 
not one of which was regarded as any longer 
seaworthy, but every one of Avhich eventually 
made the voyage in safety, many entering port 
with pumps going, and running directly upon 
the mud flats of San Francisco harbor only to 
be used as storeships or broken up by the old 
junk men for firewood, or for the old iron and 
the rigging that remained. 

Less than five degrees south of the equator 
we caught the southeast trades. If the run 
through the northeast trades had been a pleas- 
ant episode in the voyage, that upon 
which we were now entering was a 
summer idyl of prolonged delight. 
From the 20th of February to the 12th 
of March the ship lay on her course with a long 
line of foam in her wake, stretching away astern 
in sunny whiteness by day, and brilliant with 
phosphorescence by night. Nor did we 
start tack or sheet until latitude 43° south 




SIGHTING AN OLD WHALER. 



CAJ'J: //OAX .I.V/> COOPKK.l I n J. MIXING IN 



'49- 



5«3 




.3^ 





X 



m. 



!^ 




IN I I KV H-'H JC M , 



was reached, ami the "trades" had spent their 
force. The transition from the^e halcyon days to 
the stormy period whic h followed was abrupt 
and unexj)ected. On the 13th the wind sud- 
denly shifted tf) the southwest, and in an hf)ur 
tlie ship was close-hauled on the wind under a 
reefed fore-topsail, fore-course and main-top- 
sail, sjjanker, and jib. .\ rising gale was brewing. 
" The glass " was tailing rapidly, but still, with 
watchful eye to winilward and a .somewhat anx- 



ious expression upon his weatherbeaten face, 
our " skip|)er " held the shij) steady in her 
course. Still the gale continued to freshen. 
The ship was tearing through the water with 
her lee rail half submerged, when suddenly the 
wind came down upon us with the force of a 
tornado, while the ship yet carried canvas 
enough to insure her being knocked down 
upon her beam-ends unless suddenly released 
from the pressure under which she was strug- 



584 



CAPE HORN AND COOPERATIVE MINING IN VP- 



gling. And that sudden relief came with the 
quickness of thought. Her foresail burst like 
the explosion of a piece of heavy artillery and 
went away to leeward in shreds. It was now 
" let go " and " clew up " all along the line and, 
with everything cast loose and threshing furi- 
ously in the blast, the good ship righted and 
came up into the wind preparatory to being 
made ready for the battle with the elements 
upon which she was entering. A moment later 
the roof of the cook's galley was on fire ; the 
flames and sparks from the wood-work around 
the smoke-pipe threatened a conflagration, 




(I i;( iM I 111-: 



'\')-) 



which was averted by the courage and cool- 
ness on the partof a few who bestowed buckets 
of salt water judiciously upon the flames above 
— and into the soup below. 

We were now in our first real gale. Soon the 
ship was lying head to the sea under a close- 
reefed main-topsail, with just enough of her 
spanker hauled out from the brails to keep 
her well balanced. The tempest was howling 
weirdly through her rigging, while the fast- 
rising sea, breaking against her weather bow, 
beat time in thundering unison to the blasts that 
were lashing its surface into a chaos of flying 
foam. To look to windward meant to be half 
blinded bythe driving scud that cut like needles 
into the face. Fifty feet away from the ship's 
rail to the leeward the atmosphere was impene- 
trable. Fast gathering night was adding its 
dismal quota of horrors to the scene. But not 
only did the noble ship at once attest her sea- 
going qualities by her superb behavior, but 
captain, officers, and crew alike by their mas- 
terly work won the confidence of the ship's 
company. Three days later the ship was plow- 
ing her way southward again with a fair wind 
and a smooth sea. 

Entering the stormy latitudes of the southern 
seas, we were welcomed by the cape pigeon 
and the strong-winged, mild-eyed albatross. 
Their numbers steadily increased as the ship 
worked her way to the southward. There is 
nothing that so relieves the monotony of a 
sea voyage through these waters as the at- 



tendant presence of these beautiful birds. 
From the upper Patagonian coast on the 
Atlantic to the same latitude on the Pacific, 
they are the sailor's inseparable companions 
in sunshine and in storm. The eye of the alba- 
tross has a gentle, human expression, and 
he who has once sailed over these troubled 
waters will not be at a loss to understand 
the lesson of " The Rime of the Ancient 
Mariner." 

As we drew near the cape the ship was 
stripped of her " top-hamper." Her upper 
yards and spars were sent down, and with top- 
gallant yards yet crossed she was made ready 
for the rough-and-tumble work to be looked 
for " off the Horn." On the 29th of March, 
with the rugged and inhospitable coast of 
" Tierra del Fuego " lying in full view to the 
southwest, — the first "landfall" made since 
leaving Boston harbor, — we entered the Straits 
of Le Maire. Grim and forbidding the out- 
line of Staten Land loomed out of the haze on 
our port beam as the ship drove forward with 
a free wind, fairly in mid-channel and pointing 
directly on her course as night shut down 
upon us. 

At midday on the 30th, when in the latitude 
of Cape Horn and some seventy-five miles 
to the eastward of the dreaded locality, the 
wind suddenly hauled to the southwest and 
came out with hurricane fury. The long, heavy 
swell from the Pacific swept down upon us 
with irresistible force, and all hands were soon 
brought to a stern realization that the battle 
of " doubling Cape Horn " had fairly opened. 
At noon next day the ship had been blown a 
hundred miles to the eastward before the gale 
and the heavy seas that accompanied it. Nor 
did the next day's work show a gain of half a 
dozen miles of the ground thus lost. It was a 
contest between a good ship and good sea- 
manship on the one side, and the terrific storms 
and yet more terrific seas that beset this bleak 
and inhospitable region. 

Perhaps no merchant ship had ever left port 
better officered and better manned than this. 
Her commander was an old-time mariner, and 
a navigator who could read his way along the 
trackless deep with unerring accuracy. " Bow- 
ditch's Navigator " was his Bible. He fairly 
reveled in lunar observations and exulted over 
the necessities of storm and cloudy stress by 
day that forced him to exhibit hisskill at double 
altitudes of the fixed stars by night. And when 
for a succession of days and nights no gleam 
from sun, moon, or stars had been visible to 
light the way along our course, his " dead 
reckoning " was never at fault, nor was the 
position of the ship ever marked wrong uijon 
the chart. One could lie down to sleep at night 
in the serene confidence that wherever " the 



CAPE HORN AXD COOPER ATI VE Af/X/Xc; /X '49. 



585 




old man " had dotted the location of the ship 
at each recurring midday there she must l)e. 

The first officer of the ship was Mr. W'ilham 
^'. \\ lUs. He was a young man of rare phys- 
ical perfection, a great-grandson of the rev- 
olutionary patriot Samuel Adams, and was 
worthy of his illustrious ancestry. His voyage 
in the Edward Everett closed his maritime 
career. Entering the profession of journalism 
in San Francisco, he became in after years one 
of the most popular writers for the daily press 
in that city. He enriched the literature of the 
present day by his '• Life and I'ublic Services 
of Samuel Adams" antl his ''Adventures in 
I londuras." ( ientle and refined by nature, he 
was none the less a true sailor when in com- 
mand on a ship's deck. Above the roar of 
the sea and the blast of the tempest, in the 
wildest night oft" t'ape Horn, his voice rang 
<tut loud and clear without the aid of a trum- 
l)et, giving his orders with precision and cool- 
ness in a tone that was never misunderstood 
or tiisobeyed. 

The second and ihirtl officers of the ship, 
Mr. Hriard and Mr. I'ike, were " old sea-dogs " 
of the truest type. In the forecastle there were 
few who had not long before been graduated in 
their calling as "mates" and "second mates." 
and were seeking this method of working their 
passage to " the land of gol«l." 

Not a day nor an hour |)assc«l for weeks when 
the ship was not struggling under short and 
Vol. \LII.— 7^. 



clo.se-reefed canvas. Half the time her decks 
were swept by tremenilous seas, and not a true 
or reliable observation was to be liad from the. 
day of her passage through the Straits of Le 
Maire until the cape had been fairly roundeil 
anil the ship's head pointed northward. 

On the 2 ist of April, having battled our way 
around the cape and up to 51° south latitude 
on the I'ai illc side, the wind came out from the 
southward antl we " sijuared away " for \'alpa- 
raiso. The .ship had not lo.st an inch of canvas 
or a sjtar nor parted a rope in her long strug- 
gle. With everything .set alow and aloft, and 
studding-sails boomed out to jwrt and star- 
board, she sailed as she had never sailed before 
on this voyage; nor was sail shortene<l until, 
on the 29th of April, she ran into calm weather 
oft" Valparaiso harbor. 

But two .ships of the California fleet had ar- 
rived at Valparaiso before us. 'I'hese were the 
Haltimore-built clippers, — famous in their day 
for speed. — the Gray Jia\;lf and the Gray- 
houtid. The ship .Vfontrdil from Boston ar- 
rived a few hours later with 93 pas.sengers. The 
barks Victory, 90 days from New York with 30 
pa.ssengers, and the Josrf</iinr, 108 days from 
New York, arrived later in the (lay ; the ship Or- 
/>/inis,r)o days from New \'ork with 195 passen- 
gers, and the brig David Hrnshau\ from New 
^'ork with 7 passengers. rea«hing |»orton thefol- 
lowing day. With 500 .\mencans thus turned 
loose upon the streets and hiilsofthisold Spanish 



586 



CAPE HORN AND COOPERATIVE MINING IN '49. 



city after more than three months at sea, there 
was doubtless more bustle and animation in 
Valparaiso than had ever been witnessed before. 
It was a visit full of novelty and interest to this 
small army of gold hunters. " Knowing that 
we were going to a land where Spanish was 
spoken," writes a member of the Edward Ev- 
erett company, " we all studied ' Ollendorff's 
New Method of Learning to Read, Write, and 
Speak Spanish ' ; and for several days before 
our arrival at Valparaiso no other language was 
spoken on board the ship. We were much sur- 




A J-ERIL OF THE PACIFIC. 



prised on going ashore that the people did not 
understand their own language." However, 
means of communication were established, suf- 
ficient to enable us to supply our wants and to 
minister to our pleasure. 

On the 4th of May all but two of the fleet 
were again under way, if a drift seaward with 
not air enough to prevent a ship's canvas from 
hanging idly against her masts can be so called. 
And drift, drift, drift it was, for days and days, 
the coast of Chili lying along in full view to the 
northward and eastward, and the ship rolling 
helplessly from side to side in the long, heavy 
swells of the glassy ocean. " They that go 
down to the sea " in steamships, in these days 
of ocean steam-navigation, do not realize the 
luxury of a storm at sea as compared with the 
helplessness of a sailing ship in a dead calm, 
when every roll threatens to jerk the spars out 
of her and leave her a helpless wreck. 

Two days out from Valparaiso we had a 
strange experience. I'he ships Motitrcal and 
Edward Everett drifted into uncomfortable 
proximity, each moment visibly lessening the 
distance by which they were separated and 
increasing the prospect that the vessels would 
grind each other to splinters. A collision seemed 
inevitable, and men stood facing each other 
on the decks with pale faces and a common 
expression of infant helplessness. And all 

the while the sea 
was glassy, the 
sky placid, and 
the atmosphere 
beaming with se- 
renity. As they 
approached to 
within half a 
ship's length, 
the Everett, as 
though impelled 
by a mysterious 
power, seemed 
to forge ahead 
slowly, while the 
bow of the Mo//- 
ireal swung as 
slowly to star- 
board, until, with 
her jib-boom 
fairly over our 
port quarter and 
for a moment foul 
with our spanker 
gaff, she swung 
clear and the 
two ships drifted 
apart and out of 
danger to either. 
It was a hair- 
breadth escape. 



CAPE HORX A XI) COOrERATIll: M/N/XG fX 



'49- 



5«7 






41*^ 



m^' 



V\u 



Crossing iIr- c(|iiatf)r on the 
5thof June, uc continued to drift 
la/ily northward, until \vc took 
the northeast trades about 14'^ 
north latitude and were soon 
hastening towartis the end of 
tlie voyage. 

I'reparations were now com- 
menced for active work on our 
arrival. The ship's cargo, in ad- 
dition to the company's stores, 
consisted mainly of lumber, 
llour, and the engine and boiler 
for a small steamer, which, with 
wise forethought, had been 
jijanned before leaving IJoston 
to be built by the company and 
run upon the Sacramento River, 
Lumber was hoisted on deck, 
the frame of the boat was got 
out and fitted together, several 
barges were l)uilt,and tents were 
made. Kor the remainder of 
tile run we had an animated 
company. The engine and boiler 
of the little steamer were hoisted 
on deck, set up, and connected. 
Steam was gotten up and the 
engine run for some hours and 
put in perfect order. While thi> 
operation was going ontheclip- 
])er ship An/ii/cit was signaled, 
liound to San Francisco, where 
she arrived on the first of July 
and reported that she had i)assed 
\.\\k:. Edward Evftttt making her 
way to port under steam I — a 
report which was gravely i^ub- 
lished in the next day's issue of 
the ".Mta California," the only 
newsjjaper then published in 
California. 

As we approached the coast 
the fourth of July was at hand. 

It was celeljrated with noisy displays of patriot- myriads of cormorants, gulls, and pelicans that 
ism and ap|)roj)riate ceremonies. 'Ihe orator of nested and hatched their broods upon it. The 




A FOIKTH OF JULY OKATIOS. 



the day, .NIr. Louis R. Lull, delivered an ad 
dress, and a poem written on the occasion by 
Rev. Jcjseph .\. I'>enton was read by him. 

It was afternoon of the 6th of July when we 
entered the Golden Gate. The hills about the 
bay were dressed in the arid garb of the dry 
midsummer. Until relegra])h Hill was rounded 



hills of Contra Costa and the plains at their feet 
were rank with wild oats, and were the pasture 
ground of herds of cattle. Here and there 
across the broad and beautiful bay the white- 
washed walls of an adobe ranch house were 
visible. Roun<ling Telegraph Hill, however, 
there was a change of scene. As the harbor 



ni; habitation or sign of civilization was visible of San I-"rancisco opened up before us a whole 

fleet of vessels of every class and description 
were seen at anchor. Clearly some kind of 
tali>man was drawing hither the commerce of 
the world, although on shore, as viewed from 
the shi|)'sdeck, one saw but a few adobe build- 
ings, relics of Me.xican methods and habits, 
some small wooden structures here and there, 



save the dilapidated earthworks at Fort I'oint 
and the few crumbling adobe buildings that 
then constituted "the Presidio," or old Mex- 
ican military post. Alcatraz Island, now cov- 
ered with fortifications and barracks and 
crowned with a lighthouse at its summit, was 
then naked and white with the guano of the 



588 




^**r^»*f. "■■"■ J>..r'mil^-^' 



CAPE HORN AND COOPERATIVE MINING IN Vp- 

safely estimated that ninety-five per cent, of 
the "Forty Niners" who had then arrived, 
and were still arriving, in California were 
animated by this sentiment. For at that time 
the country, with its arid and uninviting as- 
pect, presented few or no attractions for per- 
manent residence. Much less did it then 
exhibit any of the evidences of the resources 
of soil and climate which the subsequent forty 
years of American energy and enterprise have 
developed. 

If the gold fever had become epidemic 
along the Atlantic border and throughout the 
west, here it was raging with an all-consuming, 
burning fury, attacking all ahke, and making 
eventually hapless victims of many. Our own 
ship's company were no exception to the rule. 
The sailors left the ship an hour after her 
anchors were down, and only the community 
of interest which bound us together prevented 
a stampede of everybody. Some days elapsed 
before a plan of proceeding could be agreed 
upon. Our spare lumber, of which we had 







GLANu ISLANDS, !■ KOM THE STEAMER " COLUMULS." 

and tents large and small dotting the hillsides 
and beach. 

Lanchng on the rocks at Clark's Point, a 
spur of Telegraph Hill (for no wharf then ex- 
isted), we skirted along the cove round into 
the center of the town, then fairly embraced 
within the space now covered by the few 
blocks bordering upon the Plaza or Portsmouth 
Square. A locality more replete with bustle 
and excitement than this then was never ex- 
isted. Gambling and gamblers were in full pos- 
session of the field. Tents were crowded with 
people surrounding the tables where the Mexi- 
can game of " monte," and other so-called 
banking games were in full blast. These were 
the first and most conspicuous features of the 
scene. The mercantile establishments were 
thronged with men fitting out for " the dig- 
gings." Activity prevailed everywhere, occa- 
sioned mainly by the innumerable expeditions 
and squads of men about to depart for the 
mining region. For aside from the gambling 
fraternity, and the comparatively few older and 
wiser heads Avho saw a safer and more profit- 
able field of operations in the opportunities 
which existed for trade and speculation in San 
Francisco, the heart of the multitude was set 
upon gold-chgging, the "making of a pile," — 
in the parlance of the day, — and a quick re- 
turn to the old home again. Indeed, it may be 




•;'*?!' ■■■ 












ISLAND JUAN KERNANUtZ. 



IHE NoKIH i-OI.NT UK ISLAND SA.\ i A ^L^Ke.AkriA. 

brought a goodly quantity, was readily sold 
for three hundred dollars per thousand feet, 
and payment received in gold dust. A con- 
siderable surplus of saleratus, which by chance 
happened to be among the ship's stores, found 
an immediate sale at eight dollars j^er pound. 
Other commodities were disposed of at simi- 
lar rates of profit, so that already, in addi- 
tion to the ship and her remaining stores, 
boats, barges, steamer, and camp equipments, 
with rugged health and strength prevailing 
among the members of the company, the 
treasury was well stocked with ready funds, 
and the company was prepared to commence 
operations. 

It was finally decided that the headquarters 
of the company should be located at Benicia, 
on the straits of Carquinez, some thirty-five 
miles from San Francisco, and on the loth of 
July the ship got under way for that point, in 
charge of Captain Harrison, the bay pilot 



CAPE irORX A XI) COdPl'.KATnr. MIXIXG IX '4<;. 



589 



<tf tliat (lay. Hcforc niglufall she was safely 
inooreil alongside the marsh, in front of the 
point at which the city of IJenicia at that time 
was rx/^r/c'i/ to rise and rival San Francisco in 
wealth and importance. 

Preparations were immediately made for the 
transportation of the main body of the < om- 
pany up the Suramentcn tn roiitr to the min- 
ing region, while a sufficient number — and 
among them the best mechanics of the com- 
])any — were to be left behind to set up and 
launch the steamer. The next day the expt<li- 
tion started up the river. It consi.sted of four 
barges and two surf boats, all dee|)ly laden 
with men and stores. The little tlotilla sailed 



upon the right bank of the stream. 'I'he mem- 
ory of that night will be vivid in the mind of 
the last survivor of those who shared its mi.s- 
eries, though he live to round out a century of 
existence. The atmos|)here was <lense with 
the mo.st v(»racious breed of moscpiitoes. It 
was a night of purgatorial penance, and deej) 
was the rejoicing when morning dawiieil and 
we were again afloat. 

The waters of the Sacramento were then 
clear and uncontaminated by the mining de- 
bris that subsecjuentiy made it a muddy and 
shallow stream. Its banks were fringed with 
trees, shrubs, and climbing plants fairly tropic al 
in their luxuriance. Every bend in the silent 




.Mull I UN I lit iAuK-V-iH-MU KlVliK. 



away up the straits into Suisun Hay. The true 
channel through this bay was at that time not 
markcilbybuoysorbeaconsby whi< hit( ouldbe 
followed. Mud banks existed in all directions, 
and these we were soon successful in locating. 
Half the time the boats were aground, and 
half filled with water from the spray of the sea 
that broke over them as they were lifted and 
thumped upon the soft mud shoals. The pas 
sage across this troublesome sheet of water was 
at length safely effected, however, and the little 
fleet entered a broad estuary that opened out 
before it, only to find, an hour or two later, 
that we were a.scending the San Joacjuin in- 
stead of the Sacramento River. Heating our 
way back we at last rea< hed the entrance to 
the Sacramento, ami encamped for the night 



river brought a new revelation of solitude — 
beautiful elTects of foliage and placid waters, 
witli the distant Sierras dimlv outlined in the 
hazy atmosphere. I'here was no sign of hu- 
man habitation until, as we rountled a bentl in 
the river, the tents and shanties of Sacramento 
came into view. 

The city of Sacramento was at this time but 
little more than a busy, thriving camp, along 
the river and on the line of what is now I-'n^nt 
.street, liack of this was a light growth of tim- 
ber whi( h shut off the view of the country be- 
yond. Heaps of merchandise were .scattered 
along the river bank. Teams of ever)' descrip- 
tion and pack trains were constantly loading and 
departing for the mines. Places where business 
was being carried on in tents and rough struc- 



59° 



CAPE HORN AND COOPERATIVE MINING IN '4g. 



tures alternated with gambling resorts open day 
and night. Excitement prevailed everywhere 
and was written in the expression of every face. 
The people of these days — as indeed for years 
afterward — lived at the rate of ten years in 
one. Proper food was scarce. In a land now so 
well known to be the most productive in fruits 
and vegetables of any part of the world, not a 
fruit tree existed or a garden patch was culti- 
vated outside of the mission grounds scattered 
widely apart over the country along the coast. 
A wagon-load of potatoes and onions arriving 
from the Mission of San Jose, while we were 
yet encamped at Sacramento, was speedily dis- 
posed of at a dollar a pound. Many months 
elapsed before we again indulged in these 
luxuries. 

The next movement was to be towards the 
mines. In what direction we should move, was 
the momentous question. It was finally decided 
that the Mokelumne River should be our point 
of destination; and on the afternoon of the 1 7 th 
of July, about one hundred and twenty in num- 
ber, with three teams loaded with stores and 
camp equipage and drawn by oxen, we took up 
our line of march. Our road led out through 
the thin line of timber in the direction of Sut- 




IlIL bALKA.ML..lu KiVLR, ABOVE SACRAMENTO. 

ter's Fort, some two miles back from the Sac- 
ramento, near the left bank of the American 
River. Here we camped for the night prepara- 
tory to a long trip on the morrow. Up to this 
time the weather had been insufferably hot, 
though the nights were cold. We were not un- 
aware, therefore, that a tiresome and oppressive 
tramp was before us, when on the following 
morning we broke camp and started on our 
journey. Our route was in a southeasterly 
direction straight out over a dry and arid plain, 
beyond which, some twenty-five miles away, 
was the Cosumnes River. We did not know 
that not a drop of water was to be had until 
the Cosumnes was reached, and, buoyant with 



hope, we started on our march carrying no 
water. Before ten o'clock every man in the 
party began to experience the effects of the 
heat and the pangs of thirst. The heat grew 
more and more oppressive. We learned after- 
ward that the mercury at Sacramento was at 
iiqO in the shade. The sharp, hot gravel 
crunched under our footsteps, the atmosphere 
shimmered with heat in all directions. By 
eleven o'clock the burning plain met the hori- 
zon on all sides, with not a sign of life or vege- 
tation, or an indication of water in any direction. 
Men and animals were panting like dogs just 
in from the chase. Still there was no time to 
halt. Relief could only be had by pushing for- 
ward. The pace was necessarily a slow one. 
The oxen wearily dragged their heavy loads, 
while the men kept within easy reach of the 
wagons, not knowing who might be first to 
fall from heat and exhaustion. Soon after noon, 
the line of timber that skirts the Cosumnes ap- 
peared on the northeastern horizon. Under- 
neath it was an equally long line of open sky, 
so that the trees seemed literally to be growing 
in the air. It was the deceitful mirage that had 
brought them thus prematurely into view, and 
many weary miles yet remained to be traversed 
before they were reached. But the 
sight inspired new hope and effort 
and we plodded on. Men now began 
to give out, and these were lifted upon 
the wagons. The older and stronger 
men of the party were first to suc- 
cumb; "the boys" still held out. 
At length, late in the afternoon we 
drew near the river. As the head 
of the straggling column reached its 
banks there was a rush for the stream ; 
many threw themselves headlong into 
the shallow waters, while all drank 
their fill. The poor fellows on the 
wagons were lifted tenderly down and 
taken to the water. Two or three of 
the number had fallen behind the 
wagons and were not yet in. Volun- 
teers carrying water started back and 
found them prostrate a mile away, in a state 
of complete collapse. Water revived them, and 
by the aid of their stronger companions they 
struggled into camp. But not until long after 
night had fallen was the camp fire lighted and 
our supper eaten. 

We cooked our breakfast and broke camp at 
daylight the next morning and started again on 
our weary tramp. Some of the party had to 
be carried on the wagons. But although there 
were hills to climb and a long march to make 
on this day's journey, yet there were shade-trees 
in abundance, and springs here and there along 
the route, making it comparatively a holiday 
trip. By noon we were fairly within the "miu- 



CAPE HORX AND COOPEKATnE MfXINC; /X V(?. 



SOI 




'■ ■''•«■■ i#^VF9u»' 



^"^^^A- 



ARRIVAL OF THE "EDWARD EVERETT " AT SACRAMENTO. 



ing region." ( )iir route now lay along the line 
of what has since come to be known as " the 
mother lode" of California, and from which 
millions havesinc eheen extracted in theiiuart/- 
mining operations that have been and are still 
being prosecuted upon it. In all California, 
however, not a blow had yet been struck in 
quartz-mining, for the "placer diggings" were 
as yet virgin ground, and ( [uartz operations were 
unthought of. Before leaving lioston, we had 
taken into our ])arty a '• i)rofessional " geologist, 
who passed with us over miles and miles of 
the " mother lode " without ever suspecting 
its existence, and was as helpless as the most 
inexperienced youngster of the party in the 
hunt for gold when " the diggings " were 
reached. 

Our party reached the summit of the ridge 
that constitutes the northern tlescent to the 
Mokelumne River late in the afternoon. No 
teams had ever before gone <lown the trail to 
the river itself, the few gold-seekers who pre- 
ceded us having carried their stores on " pack 
animals." \ unicjue method of descent was 
adopted by us. The oxen were hitched to the 
rear of the wagons, headed up the hill ; the 
tongues of the wagons were steered by two 
strong men ; ropes were rigged out an<l manned 
on the upperside of the incline and also to assist 
in "lowering away" when all was ready. Thus 
with the cart literally before the oxen, and the 
rudder rigged out forward instead of asteni, and 
with the strong cattle backing slowly down the 



hill, the descent was fmally accomi)lished, and 
cam]) was made that night by the -side of the 
brawling river. 

'I'he next morning the iligging for gold com- 
menced in earnest. The first dav's journev in 
the burning heat of the Sacramento valley had 
prostrated several of the company, however, antl 
the hospital at once became a ne« essary ad- 
junct to the as yet chaotic camp. The search 
among our stores soon revealed the fact that 
the medicine-chest had been left behind. Lu- 
dicrous as the fa( t may seem, a box which was 
supposed to contain the medicines proved to 
be the outer covering of a carboy of acid which 
hail been provided by our geologist to test the 
loatls of gold which it was confidently expected 
we shoultl soon accumulate. Something had 
to be done to rectify the blunder immertiately, 
for several of the men were now in the hospi- 
tal lent. The writer was detailed to return alone 
to Sacramento and hasten forward the medi- 
cines — a trij) successfully accomplished with 
the aid of a stout little mustang. 

My presence as secretary of the company 
having nf)w become necessar)- at the ship, still 
lying at iJenic ia, I returned two days later to 
Sacramento, and descending the river by a .small 
boat, reai hed the Fi/u-tini Evrrrlt a day later. 
Work on the small steamboat had progre.ssed 
rapidly. The keel had been laid on the 13th 
of July, and all hands were pushing forward 
the construction. On the 12th of .August she 
was successfully launchetl, and swung along- 



592 



CAPE HORN AND COOPER A 77VE MINING IN Vp- 



side the ship. Her boiler and machinery 
were lowered into her, and soon put in place, 
and on the 15th a trial trip was successfully 
made, although it cannot be said that the speed 
was satisfactory. She was loaded, and, com- 
manded by our first officer, WiUiam V. Wells, 
with Alfred N. Proctor as engineer and S. P. 
Barker as assistant, she started on her first voy- 
age up the river on the 17th of August, 1849. 
The writer, in company with others, was a pas- 
senger on board. We reached Sacramento on 



California Mining and Trading Joint Stock 
Company ceased to exist. 

Out of this whole ship's company not more 
than thirty remained in California. So far as 
the writer has been able to ascertain, but fif- 
teen are living there to-day. The others re- 
turned again to their Eastern homes, where 
their subsequent careers, with few exceptions, 
are unknown. 

Some of the delusions of the time are curi- 
ous. One ship's company, for example, came 




STEAM GOLD DREDGER ASCENDING THE SACRAMENTO, It 



the early morning of the 19th. The steam 
whistle was sounded on approaching, and the 
whole camp was soon assembled upon the river 
bank to receive us and witness the unique sight 
of a steamboat on the Sacramento. Such a 
greeting has seldom been witnessed. The blasts 
of the whistle and the yelling of the multitude 
ushered in a day of jollification, in which whisky 
was the fuel that kept up steam on shore long 
after the fires had gone out under the boilers 
of the little Pioneer. 

As a cooperative body, the rest of the story 
of the Edward Everett company is soon told. 
Two weeks on the Mokelumne resulted in the 
unanimous decision that cooperative gold dig- 
ging was impracticable, and a resolution to 
disband was adopted. Mr. J. L. Bates, one of 
the directors of the company, was authorized 
to return to Benicia, sell the ship, and close 
up the affairs of the company, while singly and 
in squads the men scattered, some to hunt 
for and dig gold on their individual account, 
others returning to Sacramento and San Fran- 
cisco soon after, satisfied that they had mis- 
taken their calling. 

The ship was sold for $30,000 ; the little 
steamboat was purchased by Simmons, Hutch- 
inson & Co. for $6000, and soon after was 
snagged on the Feather River, where it sank. 
A final dividend of $160 was paid to each 
member of the company, and the Boston and 



in the expectation of dredging gold from the 
bottom of the Sacramento River or its branches. 
They brought with them a large scow, to be 
propelled by a stern wheel operated by an en- 
gine in the usual manner. A house, or work- 
shop, was built over the entire boat, within 
which was the dredging apparatus, and quar- 
ters for men who were to operate it, and where 
they were to divide the proceeds of their labor 
as the gold was dredged from the bottom of 
the river. The unique craft steamed up the 
river and made experiments, which so com- 
pletely convinced her owners of the absurdity 
of the scheme that they quietly dismantled and 
disposed of her. 

This was not more delusive, however, than 
the attempt to dig gold upon the cooperative 
principle. It was assumed that a hundred or 
more men could be called together indiscrimi- 
nately from every vocation in life, many of 
whom had never performed a stroke of hard 
labor, and that all could work in harmony to- 
gether, some performing more daily labor than 
others and producing more than others, and 
all standing on a basis of perfect equality in 
the division of the combined product. Such 
was the underlying principle upon which the 
organization of the Edivard Everetf s company 
was based. Its brief existence when the min- 
ing region was reached, and the system of co- 
operative labor was attempted to be carried 



CAPE HORX AXD COOPERATIVE .\r/.\E\(; fX Vp- 593 

into effect, attests its absurdity. It served its In 1850 the arrivals were as follows: 

purpose, perhaps, in bringing alwut a combi- ... - , ,. ,,. „ , „ . „ 

' .' ff • ' , , £." V I la Ca^ Horn I la Panama hrom Paci/K Ports 

nation of capita and cftort to secure an eco- ^,..^,,,^ ,, ^^^ ^,^,^.^^ ,^^^ j^,^,^.^ ' ^ 

nomical method of reaching Cahfomia, but Females, 561 .. Females, 319 Females, 1522 

l)eyond that it was a detriment to every man i . . 34,522 

who really desired to "try his luck," so to I ; ,!. ,. 2402 

speak, at cold digging. For instead of lea\ - , ><- 1 <- 1 1 1 •/• • 

iig the whole field of the California gold re- j^^J.f. ^'^^' '^^"'"^'^•^ ^'^'-^ clas.s,fication was as fol- 
gion open to every one of the company, it 

concentrated into one chance the opportuni- From .-Vmcrican and European Ports \ -- 

ties of all. It disgusted the large majority of and r.nnama \ 

the companv with gold digging at the very out- p""'^'" •;^"sip''-'^ -"^'S 

.sent them back to their ordinary voca- From Chili 117 

lions at home or in California. Not one of the From South Sea Islands . 41 

company ever grew rich by gold digging. From I'cru 16 

There was really but little to'choose between '''"'" ^'^'"^ - '5" 

the folly of attetnpting to dreilge gold in 1849 Total , 02 
from the mud of the Sacramento, and that of 

digging gold in the foothills of the Sierras by Xo reconl exists from whi( h the volume of 

cooperative lal)or. overland travel to California during these years 

Through the years 1849 and 1850, the Cape can be given. Its ratio can be best appro.\i- 

Horn route from the .\tlantic States to Cali- mated ])erhai)s by reference to the records of 

fomia maintained the supremacy overall others, membership of the Society of California Pio- 

but towards thecloseof 1850 the Panama route neers. This organization is made up of those 

gained the ascendancy. From that time on the who arrived in California ])rior to January i, 

voyage "round the Horn" ceased to com- 1850, and their male descendants. From this 

mand any considerable share of travel, and was source the following compilation is made : 

tinallv given over to the famous fleet of Ameri- , , . , . ^ ., 

can clippers so renowned in their dav as fast ^^^^^^ "^^^^ Z'Zt\ v!^ S^n^.*"'" \'^ 

• ' . , . , -_ . . .Members who arrived via I anama . 213 

freight carriers to the Pacihc coast. It is in- Members who arrived overland 208 

teresting to note the relative share of travel by Members who arrived by other routes . 77 

sea which these routes commanded in these ~ — 

early ilays. The only record in existence from °^ 

which information can be obtained is that It thus appears that more than half of these 

which was kept by Mr. Edward S. King, har- as.sociated argonauts made the Cape Horn voy- 

l)or master of San Francisco during that pe- age. The list of " forty-niners" from which this 

riod, the custom house records having been tabulation is made embraces of course but a 

destroyed by the great fire of May 4, 185 1. small portion of those who were eligible to 

This valuable record is now the ])roj)erty of membership had they not long since been 

tlie Society of ( 'alifornia Pioneers in San Fran- gathered to their fathers, or been scattered to 

cisco, and from it the following compilation is other parts of the world, or failed to avail 

made: thenvselves of their ])rivilege. 

^ ,-o„..^,.„ ,0 „,. .„ ... ,. .. ,.„...^.,^^ It is a remarkable circumstance that out of 

PASSE.NGER ARR1V.\LS BY SEA IN SAN FRANCISCO r, r , i <- . • i 

IN 1849. ^ "t;et of 760 vessels from Amencan ports that 

... ^ ^ „ ... „ ,- n ■£ n ... sailed around Cape Horn to San Francisco in 

k M Laft IfoTH I ;.i /anama. ir.^ui I'aciju Paris. • , , . , 

,5 597 6489 9217 •^^49-50> "ot one was wrecked or sustained 

any serious disaster on the long and tempes- 

From the ist of July to the 31st of Decem- tuous voyage. Yet this great fleet was largely 

ber the record shows the arrival of male and composeil of old ves.sels that had long been 

female passengers. From this it appears that regarded as unseaworthy. and in many in- 

the number of female passengers during that stances had been condenmed. but whi( h had 

period was as follows : been patched up and pressed into service again 

to meet the exigencies of the occa.sion. Many 

From .Mlantic and Kuropean Ports \ and many a ship entered the Golden Ciate 

and via Panama ^ •> with ])umps which had been almost constantly 

From chih.^^ '^ 72 manned to keep it afloat, and many and many 

From Mexico 70 instead of ( to anch — • run directly 

From South Sea Islands. 2^ UDon the i: ts of Ni IJav. where 

h rom 1 cru IS thj.,. ended their sea-going days by being trans- 

Ir.Mn t hma. . . 8 290 r '' 1 • . 1 u . 1 1 ^ r 

__ formed into storehouses, hotels, or i>oan!ing- 

Toial 599 houses, finally to be broken up by the " old 
Vol. XLII.— 76-77. 



594 



GJ^AV ROCKS AND GRAYER SEA. 



junk " men. The Niatitic, a large, full-rigged 
ship, that had seen service in every sea, was 
floated up to what is now the very heart of San 
Francisco, and there converted into a hotel. 
Over the gaping wound in her stout oaken side, 
where a doorway was cut for a public entrance, 
was inscribed the hospitable legend, " Rest for 
the weary and storage for trunks." The ship 
^/(■^i/Z^? was converted into a saloon and lodging- 
house, while on the opposite side of the way 
was the hulk of the brig Euphemia, which had 
been purchased by the ayuntainieuto, or city 
council, for a prison, and was the first place for 
the confinement of criminals which the city of 
San Francisco owned. Many a ship was de- 
serted by owners, officers, and crew for the 
more attractive " diggings." 

The wonder becomes still greater that this 
vast fleet of vessels — many of them worn 
and unseaworthy — made the Cape Horn 
voyage successfully, when it is remembered 
that most of them made the passage in mid- 
winter of that stormy region. The average 
number of days occupied in making the voyage 
by those which were off the cape in the sum- 
mer months of that locahty was 153, as against 
an average of 203 days for those which were 
there in the winter months. In some instances 
vessels " sighting " Staten Land, or even the 
cape itself, would be blown off eastward by 
the never-ceasing southwest gales, and after 
six weeks' battling with the storm would again 
find the same "landfall" to the windward, and 
actual progress round the bleak headland not 
yet begun. It was not an unusual experience 



to lie close-hauled to the wind under a single 
storm staysail for week after week, the ship's 
rigging covered with icy sleet, her decks half 
the time covered with hail or buried in water, 
the sea breaking over her and washing every- 
thing away not securely bolted or lashed to 
her decks, the galley flooded with water so 
that little or no cooking could be done, and 
" old horse " and " hard tack " the only fare. 
Add to this the gloom of the long, dark win- 
ter nights, and the cheerlessness of the short 
winter days, — the sun breaking through the 
murky atmosphere low down in the north for 
an hour or two, perhaps, now and then, — 
hatches battened down, making life almost 
unendurable below decks, and discomfort and 
misery prevailing everywhere, the rolling and 
pitching of the ship rendering sleep next to 
impossible and actual rest unattainable, and 
this condition of things continuing in many 
instances for a period of two months before 
the work of " doubling the cape " was accom- 
plished. The constant sense of danger that no 
man could fail to realize added misery to the 
situation yet more unpleasantly appreciable. 

It is an interesting circumstance that every 
one of these vessels entered the harbor of San 
Francisco and found an anchorage without 
the aid of a pilot. It is none the less singu- 
lar, perhaps, that not until after a pilot system 
was estabUshed was there a single wreck to re- 
cord of vessels entering or attempting to enter 
the Golden Gate. Yet no more competent body 
of men than these pilots have ever pursued the 
calling in any part of the world. 

Willard B. EarwelL 




GRAY ROCKS AND GRAYER SEA. 



GRAY rocks, and grayer sea. 
And surf along the shore - 
And in my heart a name 

My lips shall speak no more. 

The high and lonely hills 

Endure the darkening year — 

And in my heart endure 
A memory and a tear. 



Across the tide a sail 

That tosses and is gone — 
And in my heart the kiss 

That longing dreams upon. 

Gray rocks, and grayer sea, 
And surf along the shore — 

And in my heart the face 
That I shall see no more. 



Charles G. D. Roberts. 



FEATURi:S 



OF Till-: PROPOSED 
NATIONAL PARK. 



VOSHMriP: 




HK u|jpcr 'ruolumne Valley is 
the widest, smoothest, most 
serenely spacious, and in every 
way the most (iclightful summer 
pleasure park in all the high 
Sierra. And since it is con- 
nected with Yosemite by two good trails, and 
with the levels of civilization by a broad, well- 
graded carriage-road that passes between Yo- 
semite and Mount Hoffman, it is also the most 
accessible. It lies in the heart of the high Sierra 
at a height of from 8500 to 9000 feet above 
the level of the sea, at a distance of less than 
ten miles from the northeastern boundary of 
the Yosemite reservation. It is bounded on 
the southwest by the gray, jagged, i)ictures(|ue 
Cathedral range, which extends in a south- 
easterly direction from Cathedral Peak to 
Mount Lyell and Mount Ritter, the culmi- 
nating peaks of the grand mass of icy moun- 
tains that form the " crown of tiie Sierra " ; 
on the northeast, by a similar range or spur, 
the highest peak of which is Mount Conness ; 
on the east, by the smooth, majestic masses of 
Mount Dana, Mount Ciibbs, Mount Ord, and 
others, nameless as yet, on the axis of the 
main range ; and on the west by a heaving, 
billowy mass of glacier-polished rocks, over 
which the towering masses of Mount Hoff- 
man are seen. Down through the open sunny 
levels of the valley tlows the brigiu Tuolumne 
River, fresh from many a glacial fountain in 
the wild recesses of the peaks, the highest of 
which are the glaciers that lie on the north 
sides of Mount Lyell and Mount .McClure. 

.\Iong the river are a series of beautiful 
glacier meadows stretching, with but little 
interrui)tion, from the lower end of the valley 
to its head, a distance of about twelve miles. 
These form charming sauntering grounds from 
which the glorious mountains may be enjoyed 
as they look down in divine serenity over the 
majestic swaths of forest that clothe their bases. 
Narrow strips of pine woods cross the meadow- 
carpet from side to sitle, and it is somewhat 
roughened here and there by groves, moraine 
boulders, and dead trees brought ilown from 
the heights by avalanches ; but for miles and 
miles it is so smooth and level that a hundred 
horsemen may ride abreast over it. 

The main lower portion of the meadow is 
about four miles long and fnnu a quarter to 
C56 



half a mile wide ; but the width of the valley 
is, on an average, about eight miles. Tracing 
the river we fmci that it forks a mile above the 
Soda Springs, which are situated on the north 
bank opposite the point where the Cathedral 
trail comes in — the main fork turning south- 
ward to Mount I. yell, the other eastward to 
Mount Dana and Mount Gibbs. Along both 
forks strips of meadow extend almost to their 
heads. The most beautiful portions of the 
meadows are spread over lake basins, which 
have been filled up by deposits from the nver. 
\ few of these river-lakes still exist, but they 
are now shalKnv and are rajjidly apjjroaching 
extinction. The sod in most places is exceed- 
ingly fine and silky and free from rough weeds 
and bushes; while charming flowers abound, 
especially gentians, dwarf <laisies, ivesias, and 
the pink bells of dwarf vaccinium. On the 
banks of the river and its tributaries Ca.ssiope 
antl iJryanthus may be found where the sod 
curls over in bosses, and about piles of boul- 
ders. The principal grass of these meadows is 
a delicate Calamagrostis with very slender 
leaves, and when it is in flower the ground 
seems to be covered with a faint purple mist, 
the stems of the spikelets being so fine that 
they are almost invisible, and offer no appre- 
ciable resistance in walking through them. 
•Mong the edges of the meadows beneath the 
pines and throughout the greater part of the 
valley tall ribbon-leaved gra.s.ses grow in abun- 
dance, chiefly Hromus, Triticum, and Agrostis. 
In October the nights are frosty, antl then 
the meadows at sunrise, when every leaf is 
laden with crystals, are a fine sight, ihe days 
are warm and calm, and bees and butterflies 
continue to waver and hum about the late- 
blooming flowers until the coming of the 
snow, usually late in November. Storm then 
follows storm in close succession, burying the 
meadows to a depth of from ten to twenty I'eet, 
while magnificent avalanches descend through 
the forests from the laden heights, depositing 
huge piles of snow mixed with uproote<l trees 
and boulders. In the open sunshine the snow 
lasts until I une, but the new seas<jn's vegetation 
is not generally in bloom until late in July. 
Perhaps the best time to visit this valley is in 
•Vugust. The snow is then melted from the 
woods, and the meadows are dry and warm, 
while the weatlier is mostly sunshine, reviving 



THE WOMEN OF THE FRENCH SALONS. 



65s 



learning, the courtly accomplishments of 
Grimm ; the gaiety and originality of D'Hol- 
bach, who had " read everything and forgotten 
nothing " ; the sparkling conversation of the 
most finished and scholarly diplomats in Eu- 
rope, many of whom we have already met at 
the dinners of Mme. Geoffrin. They discuss 
economic questions, politics, rehgion, art, lit- 
erature, with equal freedom and ardor. They 
are as much divided on the merits of Gliick's 
" Armida " and Piccini's " Roland " as upon 
taxes, grains, and the policy of the government. 
The gay little Abbe Galiani brings perennial 
sunshine with the inexhaustible wit and viva- 
city that lights his clear and subtle intellect. 
" Messieurs les philosophes, you go too fast," 
he said. " 1 begin by saying that if I were pope 
I would put you in the Inquisition, and if I 
were king of France, into the Bastille." He saw 
the drift of events; but if he reasoned like a phi- 
losopher he laughed like a Neapolitan. What 
matters to-morrow if we are happy to-day ! 

The familiar notes and letters of these clever 
people picture for us a little world with its 
small interests, its piques, its loves, its friend- 
ships, its quarrels, and its hatreds. Diderot, 
who refused for a long time to meet Mme. 
d'Epinay, but finally became an intimate and 
lasting friend, touches often, in his letters to 
Sophie, upon the pleasant informality of La 
Chevrette, with its curious social episodes and 
its emotional undercurrents. He does not for- 
get even the pigeons, geese, ducks, and chick- 
ens, which he calls his own. Pouf, the dog, has 
his place here too, and flits often across the 
scene, a tiny bit of reflected immortality. There 
is something half pathetic in these faded mis- 
sives, with their little freight of human joys and 
sorrows. 

Mme. d'Epinay aided Grimm in his " Corre- 
spondance Litteraire " ; wrote a treatise on edu- 
cation, which had the honor of being crowned 
by the Academie Frangaise; and, among other 
things of more or less value, a novel, which 
was not pubhshed until long after her death. 
With many gifts and attractions, she seems to 
have been a woman of weak and undecided 
character, without sufficient strength of moral 
fiber to sustain herself with dignity under the 
unfortunate circumstances which surrounded 
her. She was essentially emotional, without 
being spiritual. Her education had not given 
her the worldly tact and address of Mme. 
Geoffrin, and her salon never had a wide ce- 
lebrity; but, in a quiet and intimate way, it 
was one among the numberless forces which 
were gathering and gaining momentum to cul- 
minate in the great tragedy of the century. 



Mme. d'Epinay did not live to s,ee the catas- 
trophe. Worn out by a life of suffering and ill 
health, she died in 1783. 

But whatever her faults and weaknesses may 
have been, the woman who could retain the de- 
voted affection of so brilHant and versatile a 
man as Grimm for twenty-seven years, who 
was the Hfelong friend and correspondent of 
Galiani and Voltaire, and the valued cojifidante 
of Diderot, must have had some rare attrac- 
tions of mind, heart, or character. 

While the group of iconoclasts who formed 
the nucleus of the philosophical salons was 
airing its theories and enjoying its increasing 
vogue there was another circle which played 
with the new ideas more or less as a sort of intel- 
lectual pastime, but was aristocratic au fond, 
and carefully preserved all the traditions of the 
old noblesse. Here too one met the philosophers 
and men of letters, but they did not dominate; 
they simply flavored these coteries of rank and 
fashion. In this age of esprit no salon was 
complete without its sprinkling of literary men. 
We meet the shy and awkward Rousseau even 
in the exclusive drawing-room of the clever 
and witty but critical Marechale de Luxem- 
bourg, who presides over a world in which the 
graces rule — a world of fine tone, of elegant 
manners, of etiquette, and of forms. He dines 
daily with her princely guests at Montmorency, 
reads to them " La Nouvelle Helo'ise " or 
" Emile," and, in spite of his democratic the- 
ories, feels greatly flattered by their friendly 
courtesies, though never quite at ease. But he 
is no more than a passing interest to this model 
of the amenities, though by no means of the 
virtues, who aids and patronizes him because 
he amuses her and brings a certain charm of 
freshness into her artificial life. 

A rival of this brilliant salon, and one of the 
most conspicuous of its day, was that of the 
Princesse de Conti at the Temple. We have 
a direct glimpse of this famous circle, in all its 
charming informality, through an interesting 
picture at Versailles, in which the oldest fami- 
lies in France appear side by side with a few 
scientists and men of letters. The figures are 
supposed to be portraits. In the midst of the 
group the little Mozart, whose precocious 
genius was then delighting Europe, sits at the 
harpsichord. The vivacious Comtesse de Bouf- 
flers, the Idole of the Temple and the lifelong 
friend of the Prince de Conti, is the animat- 
ing spirit here. Among others are Mme. de 
Luxembourg, Mme. de Mirepoix, Mme. de 
Beauvau, the Comtesse d'Egmont, President 
Henault, Mairan, and Pont de Veyle, all 
noted names in P'arisian society. 



Amelia Gere Mason. 



FEATURES OF THE PROPOSED YOSFAfnE NATIONAL PARK. 657 




I Iw UULIMM. M1^A1JLIVV:> Willi Ml II N T UANA AM< 

and exhilarating in quality ; and the few clouds 
that risL- and the showers tliey yield are only 
enough for freshness, fragrance, and beauty. 

Tile groves about the Soda Springs are fa- 
vorite cami)ing-grounds on account of the 
pleasant-tasting, ice-cold water of the springs, 
charged with carbonic acid, and because of the 
fine views of the mountains acnws the meadow 
— the Olacier Monument, Cathedral Peak, 
( atheilral Spires, Unicom Peak, and their many 
nameless companions rising in grand beauty 
above a noble swath of forest that is growing 
on the left lateral nxjraine of the ancient 'Puol- 



imine C'dacicr, which, broad and deep and far- 
reaching, exerted vast inlhience on the scenery 
of this portion of the Sierra. But there are fine 
camping-grounds all along the meadows, and 
one may move from grove to grove every day 
all summer enjoying a fresh home and find- 
ing enough to satisfy e\ery roving desire for 
change. 

There arc four capital excursions to be 
made from here — to the summits of Mounts 
Dana and T.yell ; to Mono Lake and the vol- 
canoes, through liloody Canon ; and to the 
great Tuolumne Canon as far as the foot of the 




Vol. XL. — 87. 



658 FEATURES OF THE PROFOSED YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK. 

main cascades. All of these are glorious, and dom hidden by irregular foregrounds. As you 
sure to be crowded with joyful and exciting gradually ascend, new mountains come mto 
experiences; but perhaps none of them will be sight, enriching the landscape; peak rismg 
remembered with keener delight than the days above peak with its individual architecture, 
spent in sauntering in the broad velvet lawns and its masses of fountain snow m endless 

variety of position and light 
and shade. Now your atten- 
tion is turned to the moraines, 
sweeping in beautiful curves 
from the hollows and caiions 
of the mountains, regular in 
form as railroad embank- 
ments, or to the glossy waves 
and pavements of granite 
rising here and there from 
the flowery sod, polished a 
thousand years ago and still 
shining. Towards the base 
of the mountain you note 
the dwarfing of the trees, 
until at a height of about 
11,000 feet you find patches 
of the tough white-barked 
pine pressed so flat by the ten 
or twenty feet of snow piled 
ui)on them every winter for 
centuries that you may walk 
over them as if walkinK on a 



shaggy rug. And, if curious 
about such things, you may 
discover specimens of this 
hardy mountaineer of a tree, 
not more than four feet high 
and about as many inches in 
diameter at the ground, that 
are from two hundred to four 
hundred years old, and are 
still holding on bravely to 
life, making the most of their 
short summers, shaking their 
tasseled needles in the breeze 
right cheerily, drinking the 
thin sunshine, and maturing 
their fine purple cones as if 
they meant to live forever. 
The general view from the 




VIEW OF CATHEDRAL I'EAK FROM THE WEST, ABOVE LAKE TENAYA. 



summit is one of the most ex- 
tensive and sublime to be 
found in all the range. To the 
eastward you gaze far out over 



by the river, sharing the pure air and light the hot desert plains and mountains of die 

with the trees and mountains, and gaining " Great Basin," range beyond range extending 

something of the peace of nature in the ma- withsoftoutlinesblueandpurpleinthedistance. 

jestic solitude. More tlian six thousand feet below you lies 

The excursion to the top of Mount Dana is a Lake Mono, overshadowed by the mountain on 



very easy one ; for though the mountain is 13,- 
000 feet high, the ascent from the west side is 
so gentle and smooth that one may ride a mule 
to the very summit. Across many a busy stream, 
from meadow to meadow, lies your flowery 
way, the views all sublime ; and they are sel- 



which you stand. It is ten miles in diameter 
from north to south and fourteen from east to 
west, but appears nearly circular, lying bare in 
the treeless desert like a disk of burnished 
metal, though at times it is swept by storm- 
winds from the mountains and streaked with 



F/'ATi'Nrs or 77/r. pRorosF.n yosriyr/ff-: .YArm.WAf iwrk. r.^,, 




i.^bLL l^LA>.ll:.K, 1^ KU.M lllb. bl^Ot ul- MIK l^KLAl 1-IaM.Kb. 



foam. To the south of the lake there is a range 
of i)ale-gray volcanoes, now extinct, and though 
the highest of them rise nearly two thousand 
feet above the lake, you can look down into 
their well-defined circular, cup-like craters, 
from which, a comi)aratively short time ago, 
ashes and cinders were showered over the 
surrounding plains and glacier-laden moun- 
tains. 

To the westward the landscape is made up 
of gray glaciated rocks and ridges, separated 
liy a labyrinth of cafions anil darkened with 
lines and broad fields of forest, while small 
lakes anil meadowsdot the foreground. North- 
ward and southwaril the jagged j)eaks and 
towers that are marshaled along the axis of 
the range are seen in all their glory, crowded 
together in some places like trees in groves, 
making land.scapes of wild, e.xtravagant, be- 
wildering magnificence, yet calm and silent as 
the Menery of the sky. 

Some eight glaciers are in sight. One of 
these is the Dana (ilacier on the northeast side 
of the mountain, lying at the foot of a preci- 
pice about a thousand feet high, with a lovely 
pale-green lake in the general ba.sin a little be- 
low the glai icr. This is one of the many 
small shrunken remnants of the va.st glacial 
system of the Sierra that one e filled all the 
hollowsand valleys of the mountains and < ov- 
ered all the lower ridges below the immediate 
summit fountains, flowing to right and left 
away from the axis of the range, lavishly fed 
by the snows of the glacial period. 

In the excursion to Mount I.vell the immedi- 



ate ba.se of the mountain is ca.sily reached on 
horseback by following the meadows along 
the river. Turning to the southward above the 
forks of the river you enter the Lyell branch 
of the valley, which is narrow enough and 
deep enough to be called a canon. It is about 
eight miles long and from 2000 to 3000 feet 
deep. The flat meadow bottom is from about 
3C0 to 200 yards wide, with gently < urved 
margins about 50 yards wide, from which rise 
the simple massive walls of gray granite at an 
angle of about thirty-three degrees, mostlv 
timbered with a light growth of pine and 
.streaked in many places with avalanche chan- 
nels. Towards the upper end of the canon 
the grand Sierra crown comes into sight, 
forming a sublime and finely balanced pic- 
ture, framed by the massive cafion walls. In 
the foreground you have the purple meadow 
fringed with willows; in the midille distam e, 
huge swelling bos,ses of granite that form 
the base of the general ma.ss of the moun- 
tain, with fringing lines of dark woods mark- 
ing the lower curves, but smoothly snow-clad 
exce|U in the autvimn. 

There is a good camping-ground on the 
east side of the river about a mile above. .\ 
fine cascade comes down over the canon 
wall in telling style and makes fine c^m|) 
music. ,'\t one place near the top careful 
climbing is necc's.sary, but it is not so danger- 
ous or dithcult as to deter any climber of 
ordinary strength and skill, while the views 
from the summit are glorious. To the north- 
ward are Mammoth .Mountam, Mounts Gibbs, 



66o FEATURES OF THE PROPOSED YO SEMITE NATIONAL PARK. 



^mmmmam^^ss^imi^S^WS^^Bm^K^^^ssmam^aimmmmfsmmmi 





i HE sot 1 11 blUli OF MOUNT LVELL. 



Dana, Warren, Conness, and many others, 
unnumbered and unnamed ; to the southeast 
the indescribably wild and jagged range of 
Mount Ritter and the Minarets; southwest- 
ward stretches the dividing ridge between the 
North Fork of the San Joaquin and the 
Merced, uniting with the Obelisk or Merced 
group of peaks that form the main fountains 



of the lUilouette branch of the Merced River; 
and to the northwestward extends the Cathe- 
dral spur. All these spurs, Hke distinct ranges, 
meet at your feet. Therefore you look over 
them mostly in the direction of their extension, 
and their peaks seem to be massed and crowded 
together in bewildering combinations; while 
immense amphitheaters, canons, and subordi- 



FEATURES OF TffE Ph'OrOSED YOSEM/TE NATIONAf. PARK. 66i 




^. 



TroLUMNE RIVER NEAR THE HEAD OK Till': 
GREAT CANUN. 



naic masses, with their wealth of lakes, glaciers, 
and snow-fickls, maze and duster between 
ilicm. In making the ascent in June or ( )ctober 
the glacier is easily crossed, for then its snow 
mantle is smooth or mostly melted oft". But in 
midsummerthe(liml)ingisex(eedingly tedious, 
because the snow is then weathered intocurious 
and beautiful blades, shaq) and slender, and set 
I )n edge in a leaning position, 'i'hey lean towards 
the head of the glacier, and extend across 
from side to side in regular order in a direction 
at right angles to the direction of greatest 
declivity, the distance between the crests be- 
ing about two or three feet, and the <lei)th of 
the troughs between them about three feet. 
No more interesting jiroblem is ever j)resented 
to the mountaineer than a walk over a glacier 
thus sculptured and adorned. 



Tiie Lyell Cilacier is about a mile wide 
and less than a mile long, but presents, 
nevertheless, all the more characteristic 
features of large, river-like glaciers — mo- 
raines, earth-bands, blue-veins, creva.sses, 
etc., while the streams that issue from it 
are turbid with nxk-mud, showing its 
grinding action on its bed. Ami it is all 
the more interesting since it is the highest 
and most enduring remnant of the great Tuol- 
umne (ilacier, whose traces are still distinct 
fifty miles away, and whose influence on the 
landscape was so profound. The Mct'lure 
Cilacier, once a tributary of the Lyell, is much 
smaller, l-'.ighteen years ago 1 set a .series of 
stakes in it to determine its rate of motion, 
which towards the end of summer, in the 
middle of the glacier, I found to be a little 
over an inch in twenty-four hours. 

The trip to Mono from the Soda Springs 
can be made in a day, but Bloody Cafion will 
be found rough for animals. The scenery of 
the canon, however, is wild and rich, anil many 
days may profitably be spent around the shores 
of the lake and out on its islands anil about 
tlie volcanoes. 



662 FEATURES OF THE PROPOSED YO SEMITE NATIONAL PARK. 



'•'•^*'',.,. 



--•4.^-- 



■■ »',i,«:i„. 



■f1, - 









[tf^ 







ENTKAiNCE '1 UEJ CH HETCHV VALLEY FKO.M SMITH TRAIL. 



In making the trip down the Big Tuolumne 
Caiion animals may be led as far as a small, 
grassy, forested lake basin that lies below the 
crossing of the Virginia Creek trail. And 
from this point any one accustomed to w'alk on 
earthquake boulders, carpeted with canon 
chaparral, can easily go down the canon as far 
as the big cascades and return to camp in one 
day. Many, however, are not able to do this, 
and it is far better to go leisurely, ]n-epared to 



camp anywhere, and enjoy the marvelous 
grandeur of the place. 

The canon begins near the lower end of the 
meadows and extends to the Hetch Hetchy 
Valley, a distance of about eighteen miles, 
tliough it will seem much longer to any one 
who scrambles through it. It is from 1200 to 
about 5000 feet deep, and is comparatively 
narrow, but there are several fine, roomy, 
park-like openings in it, and throughout its 




LOOKING L10\V'N ON LAKE TENAVA. 



FEArr/<i:s or the pKorosf/y yosemiij: x.iiioxAf. iwkk. 663 




^ 

^y*:/^ 






VIRW OF A I'ART OK THE C.RAND CASCADES, BIG TUOLCMNK CANON. 



whole extent Yosemite features are displayed 
on a <;rand scale — domes, Kl Capitan rocks, 
gables. Sentinels, Royal Arches, glacier points, 
(Cathedral Spires, etc. There is even a Half 
! )()me among its wealth of rock forms, though 
lc>s suhlimc and beautiful than the ^'osenlite 
Half I)ome. It also contains fdls and < as- 
cades innumerable. The sheer falls, except 
when the snow is melting in early s|)ring. 
are <|uite small in volume as compared with 
those of Yosemite and Het< h Hetchy ; but 
many of them are \ery beautiful, and in any 
other ( ountry would be regarded as great 
wonders. lUit it is the < ascacles or sloping 
falls on the main river that are the crowning 
glory of the canon, and these in volume, ex- 
tent, and \ariety suq)ass those of any other 
cafion in the Sierra. The most showy and in- 
teresting of the cascades are mostly in the up- 
per part of the cafion. abuve the point where 
Cathedral Creek and HotVman Creek enter. 



For miles the ri ver is one wild, exulting, on-rush- 
ing massof snowy purplebloom. spreading over 
glacial waves of granite without any definite 
channel, and through avalanche taluses, glid- 
ing in silver ])lumes, da.shing and foaming 
through huge boulder-dams, leaping high into 
the air in glorious wheel-like whirls, tossing 
from side to side, doubling, glinting, singing 
in glorious exuberance of mountain energy. 
I'.very one who is anything of a moun- 
taineer .should go on through the entire length 
of the canon, coming out by Hetch Hetchy. 
There is not a dull step all the way. U'ith wide 
variations it is n \'oscmite \'allev from end to 
end. 

IHK HETCH HKK HV V.M.I.KY. 

Most people who visit Yosemite are apt to 
regard it as an exceptional creation, the only 
valley of its kind in the world. But nothing 
in Nature btand> alone She i.-> not so poor as 



664 FEATURES OF THE PROPOSED YO SEMITE NATIONAL PARK. 




KOLANA ROCK, HlilCH IIEICHY VALLEY. 

to have only one of anything. The explorer 
in the Sierra and elsewhere finds many Yosem- 
ites, that differ not more than one tree differs 
from another of the same species. They occupy 
the same relative positions on the mountain 
flanks, were formed by the same forces in the 
same kind of granite, and have similar sculp- 
ture, waterfalls, and vegetation. The Hetch 
Hetchy Valley has long been known as the 
Tuolumne Yosemite. It is said to have been 
discovered by Joseph Screech, a hunter, in 
1850, a year before the discovery of the great 
Merced Yosemite. It lies in a northwesterly 
direction from Yosemite, at a distance of about 
twenty miles, and is easily accessible to mounted 
travelers by a trail that leaves the Big Oak 
Flat road at Bronson's Meadows, a few miles 
below Crane Flat. But by far the best way to 
it for those who have useful limbs is across the 



divide direct from Yosemite. 
Leaving the valley by Indian 
Canon or Fall Canon, you cross 
the dome-paved basin of Yo- 
semite Creek, then bear to the 
eft around the head fountains of the South 
Fork of the Tuolumne to the summit of 
the Big Tuolumne Canon, a few miles 
above the head of Hetch Hetchy. Here 
} ou will iind a glorious view. Immediately 
beneath you, at a depth of more than 4000 
feet, you see a beautiful ribbon of level 
ground, with a silver thread in the middle 
of it, and green or yellow according to the 
time of year. That ribbon is a strip of 
meadow, and the silver thread is the main 
Tuolumne River. The opposite wall of the 
canon rises in precipices, steep and angular, or 
with rounded brows like thoseof Yosemite, and 
from this wall as a base extends a fine wilderness 
of mountains, rising dome above dome, ridge 
above ridge, to a group of snowy peaks on the 
summit of the range. Of all this sublime con- 
gregation of mountains Castle Peak is king : 
robed with snow and light, dipping unnum- 
bered points and spires into the thin blue sky, 
it maintains amid noble companions a perfect 
and commanding individuality. 

You will not encounter much difficulty in 
getting down into the canon, for bear trails 
may readily be found leading from the upper 
feeding-grounds to the berry gardens and acorn 
orchards of Hetch Hetchy, and when you 
reach the river you have only to saunter by 
its side a mile or two down the canon before 



FKATi'RKS OF 77//-: /'A'O/VS/J) YOShMilK NATIOXAL J'ARK. 66: 



you find yourself in ihc open valley. Looking valley througli heautiful open groves you sec 

about you, you cannot fail to discover that a bare granite wall 1800 feet high rising 

you are ina Yosemite valley. As the Merced abruptly out of the green and yellow vegeta- 

tlows through Vosemite, so does the Tuolumne tion and glowing with sunshine, and in front 

through Hetch Hetchy. 'Ihe bottom of Vo- of it the fall, waving like a downy scarf, silver 

Semite is about 4000 feet above sea level, the bright, buriung with white sun-tire in ever)' 

bottom of Hetcii Hetchy is about 3800 feet, fiber. In coming forward to the edge of the 

and in both the walls are of gray granite an(l tremendous precipice and taking flight a little 

rise abruptly in precipices from a level bottom, hasty eagerness appears, but this is speedily 

with but little tlebris along their ba.ses. Fur- hushed in divine rei)Ose. Now observe the 

thermore it was a home and stronghold of the marvelous distinctness and delicacy of the 

Tuolumne Indians, as Ahwahne was of the various kinds of sun-filled tissue into which 

grizzlies, .Stantling boldly forward from the the waters are woven. They lly and tl(jat and 

south wall near the lower end of the valley is drowse down the face of that grand gray rock 

the rock Kolana, the outermost of a ])ictur- in so leisurely and unconfused a manner that 



es«|ue group corresponding to the Cathedral 
Rocks of Yosemite, and about the same height. 
Facing Kolana on the north side of the valley 
is a rock about 1800 feet in height, which ])re- 
sentsa bare, sheer front like El Capitan, and o\ er 
its massive brow flows a stream that makes the 
most graceful fall I have ever seen. Its Indian 
name is Tu ee-u-la-la, and no other, so far as 
1 have heard, has yet been given it. From the 
brow of the cliff it makes a free descent of a 
thousand feet and then breaks up intoa ragged. 



you may examine their texture and jjattems 
as you would a piece of embroidery held in 
the hand. It is a flood of singing air, water, 
and sunlight woven into cloth that spirits 
might wear. 

The great Hetch Hetchy Fall, called Wa- 
pama by the Tuolumnes, is on the same side 
of the valley as the \'eil, and so near it that 
both may be seen in one view. It is about 
1800 feet in height, and seems to be nearly 
vertical when one is standing in front of it, 



foaming web of cascades among the boulders though it is considerably inclined. Its loca- 

of an earthijuake talus. Towartls the end of tion is similar to that of the Yosemite Fall, 

summer it vanishes, because its head streams but the volume of water is much greater. .\o 

do not reach back to the lasting snows of the two falls coulil be more unlike than Wa-pama 



summits of the range, but in May and June it 
is indescribably lovely. The only fall that I 
know with which it may fairly be comjnired is 
the Bridal Veil, but it excels even that fall in 
peaceful, floating, swaying gracefulness. For 
when we attentively observe the Bridal Veil, 
even towards the middle of summer when its 
waters begin to fiiil, we may discover, when 



and Tu-ee-u-la-la, the one thundering and beat- 
ing in a shadowy gorge, the other chanting in 
ileep, low tones, and with no other shadows 
about it than those of its own waters, pale- 
gray mostly, and violet and pink delicately 
graded. One whispers, " He dwells in peace,"' 
the other is the thunder of his chariot wheels 
in power. This noble pair are the main falls 



the winds blow aside the outer folds of spray, of the valley, though there are many small ones 



dense comet-shajjcd masses shooting through 
the air with terrible energy ; but from the toj) 
of the cliff, whefe the Hetc h Hetchy veil first 
floats free, all the way to the bottom it is in 
perfect repose. Again, the Britlal Veil is in a 
shadow-haunted nook inaccessible to the main 
wind currents of the* valley, and has to depend 
for many of its gestures on irregular, teaming 
side currents and whirls, while Tu-ee-u-la-la, 
being fully exposed on the open clift", is sun 



essential to the perfet ti<>n (»f the- u'l^'ncral har- 
mony. 

The wall above \\"a-pania corresponds, both 
in outlines and in details of sculpture, with the 
same relative portion of the Vosemite wall. 
Near the Vosemite Fall the clif)" has two con- 
spicuous benches extending in a horizontal 
direction 500 and 1500 feel above the valley. 
Two benches similarly situateil, and limbered 
in the same wav, occur on the same relative 



dren( hed all day, anil is ever ready to yieKl position on the Hetch Hetchy wall, and on 
graceful compliance to every wind that blows, no other jjortion. The upper end of Yosem- 



Most people unaccjuainted with the behavior 
of mountain streams fancy that when they es- 
cape the bountls of their rocky channels anil 
launch into the air they at once lose all self-con- 
trol anil tumble in confusion. On the contrary, 
on no |)art of their travels do they manifest 
more calm self-possession. Imagine yourself in 



ite is closed by the great Half Dome, and 
the upper end of Hetch Hetchy is closed 
in the same way by a mountain rock. Both 
occu|>y angles formed by the confluence of 
two large glacierN that have long sin( e van- 
ished. In front of this head rock the river 
forks like the Merced in Vosemite. The right 



Hetch Hetchy. It is a sunny day in June, the fork as you ascend is the main Tuolumne, which 

pines sway dreamily, and you are shoulder- takes its rise in a glacier on the north side 

deep in grass and flowers. Looking across the of Mount Lyell and flows through ilie Big 
Vol. XL.— SS. 



666 FEATURES OF THE PROPOSED YO SEMITE NATIONAL PARK. 



^'proposed BOUN DA Rr " or YOSEMI T £• N AtVo N A L PA R K j^jftl ll9"'\jVono . 




„,l<^—. '(j^''^rJ%ir^:^^r^-y—.-^r£: If! _. _.±.:ilf._?:^ 1, 1 

°V ' ,„ ~y ■/ ' 'yi PROPOSED BOUiVOARY OF ' .' .-'^ YOSEMITc' \ 'NATIONAL 

■^ ~ y. ■ ■ I ■ , ■ ■ / I , . . '* Q . . _ . I . ,3.3 . . , . . \JO, . 



'na'tiona'l park' 



MAP OF THE YOSEMITE REGION, SHOWING PRESENT RESERVATION, WATER-SHED OF THE VALLEY, 
AND APPROXIMATE LIMITS OF THE PROPOSF.D NATIONAL PARK.l 



Canon. I have not traced the left fork to its 
highest source, but, judging from the general 
trend of the ridges, it must be near Castle Peak. 
Upon this left or North Fork there is a remark- 
ably interesting series of cascades, five in num- 
ber, ranged along a picturesque gorge, on the 
edges of which we may saunter safely and 
gain fine views of the dancing spray below. 
The first is a wide-spreading fan of white, crys- 
tal-covered water, half leaping half shding over 
a steep polished pavement, at the foot of which 
it rests and sets forth clear and shining on its 
final flow to the main river. A short distance 
above the head of this cascade you discover 
the second, which is as impressively wild and 
beautiful as the first, and makes you sing 
with it as though you were a part of it. It is 
framed in deep rock Avails that are colored yel- 
low and red with lichens, and fringed on the 
jagged edges by live-oaks and sabine pines, and 
at the bottom in damp nooks you may see ferns, 
lilies, and azaleas. 

Three or four hundred yards higher you 
come to the third of the choir, the largest of 
the five. It is formed of three smaller ones 
inseparably combined, which sing divinely, and 



make spray of the best quality for rainbows. 
A short distance beyond this the gorge comes 
to an end, and the bare stream, without any 
definite channel, spreads out in a thin, silvery 
sheet about 150 feet wide. Its waters are, 
throughout almost its whole extent, drawn out 
in overlapping folds of lace, thick sown with 
diamond jets and sparks that give an exceed- 
ingly rich appearance. Still advancing, you hear 
a deep mui!led booming, and you push eagerly 
on through flowery thickets until the last of 
the five appears through the foliage. The preci- 
pice down which it thunders is fretted with 
projecting knobs, forming polished keys upon 
which the wild waters play. 

The bottom of the valley is divided by a 
low, glacier-polished bar of granite, the lower 
portion being mostly meadow land, the upper 

1 The above map represents the hmits of tlie park 
as proposed by Mr. Muir and as advocated before 
the Committee on Public Lands of the House of Rep- 
resentatives. As we go to press, the Committee 
seems disposed to extend the north and south limits 
eastward to the Nevada line, thus adding an equal 
amount to the area here indicated. The honor of in- 
troducing the National Park bill belongs to General 
William Vandever of California. — Editor. 



OUR XEW XAl'AI. GUNS. 



667 



dry an<l sandy, and planted with fine Kellogg 
oaks, which fretjuently attain a (liametcr of six 
or seven feet. On the talus sln|)es the i)incs give 
jilace to the mountain live-oak, which forms the 
shadiest groves in the valley and the greatest 
in extent. Their gl(jssy foliage, warm yellow- 
green and closely pressed, makes a kind of 
ceiling, supported by bare gray trunks and 
branches gnarled and picturesque. A few 
specimens of the sugar pine and tamarack 
pine are found in the valley, also the two 
silver firs. The Douglas spruce and the li- 
bocedrus attain noble tlimensions in certain 
favorable spots, and a few specimens of the 
interesting Torrrya CaliJoniUa may be found 
on the south siile. 'Ihe brier-rose occurs in 
large patches, with tall, spiky mints and arch- 
ing grasses. On the meadows lilies, larkspurs, 
and lupinesof several species are abun(lant,and 
in some places reach above one's head. Rock- 
ferns of rare beauty fringe and rosette the walls 
from top to bottom — PtlLca iifnsii,P. viucro- 
nata and /'. Urit/i^isii, Clwilanthes s^nKiI/i/na, 
A/losonts, etc. Aiiiantum pedatum occurs in a 
few mossy comers that get spray from the falls. 
W'ooiiwariUii ratiicans and Asplcnitim J'clix- 
firmitia are the tallest ferns of the valley — .six 
feet high, some of them. The whole valley was 
a charming garden when I last saw it, and 
the huts of the Indians and a lune cabin were 
the only imjirovements. 

As will be seen by the map, I have thus 
briefly touched upon a number of the chief fea- 
tures of a region which it is ])roposed to re- 
serve out of the public domain for the use and 



re( reation of the people. A bill has already 
been introduced in Congress by Mr. Vande- 
ver creating a national park about the reser- 
vation which the State now holds in trust for 
the people. It is very desirable that the new 
reservation should at least extend to the limits 
indicated by the maj), and the bill cannot too 
<]uickly become a law. Unless reserved or pro- 
tected the whole region will soon ur late be 
devastated by lumbermen and sheepmen, and 
so of course be made unfit for use as a pleasure 
ground. Already it is with great difficulty that 
campers, even in the most remote parts of the 
proposed reservation and in those ilifficult 
of access, can find grass enough t(j kee]) their 
animals from starving; the ground is already 
being gnawed and trampled into a desert 
condition, and when the region shall be 
strippetl of its fijrests the ruin will be com- 
plete. Even the Yoscmite will then sufl'er in 
the disturbance effected on the water-shed, the 
clear streams becoming muddy and much less 
regular in their riow. It is also devoutly to be 
hoped that the Hetch Hetchy will escape such 
ravages of man as one sees in Vosemite. A.x and 
plow, hogs anil horses, have long been and 
are still busy in Yosemite's gardens and groves. 
All that is accessible and destructible is being 
rapidly destroyed — more rapidly than in any 
other Yosemite in the Sierra, though this is the 
only one that is under the special protection 
of the Oovernment. And by far the greater 
part of this destruction of the fineness of wild- 
ness is of a kind that can claim no right rela- 
tionship with that which necessarily follows use. 

John Miiir. 



OUR NEW NAVAL GUNS.' 



.yUjl'-V 




HI'- interest in military and 
naval affairs due to the 
general awakening of the 
jjublic to the jjitiful condi- 
tion of the national de- 
fenses warrants a brief 
notice of the modem gun- 
building begun in .America 
in icSM^ at the Washington Navy Yarti. 

For years this country had been .standing still 
in the matterofcannon, trusting to the creations 
of Rodman and Dahlgren, those former mas- 
ters of gun-construction, while other nations 
were adopting weapons of greater and con- 
stantly increasing power. The change from 

1 Th.inks arc due to F.nsijjn I'liilip K. .Alfjcr, 
U. S. \., for inv.-ilu.-il'Ie .nssist.incc, jwrticul.arly in 
those parts of this article relating to recent develop- 
ments. 



the old to the new has at last set in on our side 
of the Atlantic, and to-day the efforts of those 
charged with the armament of our ships and 
forts are bent towards restoring us to at least a 
creditable position in the race wherein once 
we led all competitors. 

The gun has developed steadily along certain 
well-defined lines. It will tend to brevity and 
clearness to tlevote a few words to the reast)ns 
why, following these lines, the cast-iron muz- 
zle-loading smooth bore has given way to the 
forged-steel breech-loading ritle. Through its 
greater weight an elongated shot holds its ve- 
locity better than a round shot of the same 
caliber. If fired from a smooth bore, however, 
the fomier is apt to turn end over enti and miss 
its mark ; so the bores of guns designed to 
throw such projectiles are ri/Jfii, which means 
that they have spiral grooves that engage a 



668 



OUR NEW NAVAL GUNS. 



soft metal band on the shot and cause it to 
spin about its longer axis. The gyroscopic prin- 
ciple thus invoked keeps the point foremost. 
As cannon grew stronger through the em- 




TEN-INCH JACKET. WEIGHT 15,935 POUNDS. 

ployment of better metal more powder could 
safely be burned in them. This advantage 
necessitated a larger space behind the shot to 
hold the increased charge. Lengthening this 
space entailed certain grave technical draw- 
backs and needlessly extended the gun at its 
heavy end. Better results followed from widen- 
ing the space, and so the enlarged chamber 
Avas adopted. As a full-width cartridge would 
not enter the muzzle, loading at the breech 
became imperative.' A modern gun is, there- 
fore, a breech-loading rifle. 

The value of a moving projectile depends 
on its weight and its velocity. The faster a 
shot travels the farther it can range before 
coming to the ground, the harder will be the 
blow it delivers, and the nearer its path will 
approach a straight line. The extreme ranges 
of guns to-day reach far beyond the limits of 
the gunner's vision, and are only useful in 
bombardments where the target is a large 



travel in a straight line, in spite of the action 
of gravity, to aim directly at the enemy would 
be equivalent to striking him. The nearer we 
can approach this impossible condition the 
less essential is a knowledge of the 
distance of the object and the greater 
the likelihood of hitting it. Increased 
velocity is therefore sought by the 
artillerist mainly because yielding 
more striking energy, a flatter tra- 
jectory, and a longer danger space, 
as they are called. To obtain high 
velocities large quantities of pow- 
der must be used. With ordinary 
powder this means recourse to un- 
safe pressures in the gun. At first 
the difficulty was, in a measure, 
remedied by compressing the powder into large 
prisms, which burn more slowly and uniformly 
than irregular grains. A limit was soon reached 
in this direction, and changes were sought in 
the composition itself. The Germans were 
the earliest to make and use " cocoa powder," 
the general but not universal standard at 
present, the process of the manufacture of 
which is a well-kept trade secret.- This pow- 
der differs from the familiar black powder in 
having somewhat more nitrate and charcoal 
and much less sulphur, and in the charcoal, 
Avhich is underburnt. Its chocolate color gives 
the name by which the new substance is 
known. Cocoa powder furnishes in the gun a 
comparatively moderate pressure, which de- 
creases gradually towards the muzzle. To 
obtain the full value of such a powder the shot 
must be kept under its influence for a longer 
time than was needed with the older and 
quicker black powder. The length of the bore, 




TEN-INCH TUBE FINISHED. WEIGHT IB, 112 POUNDS. 



area that cannot easily be missed. On the 
other hand, a moment's reflection will show 
that if a shot could be thrown fast enough to 

1 Breech loading is an old device, found, for instance, 
in one of Hernando Cortez's guns. The main reason 
for its re-introduction, stated above, was but one of 
many. It offers so many incidental advantages in con- 
nection with security to the gunners in action and the 



measured in calibers, has therefore grown 
from twelve and less to thirty and more — a 
striking proof that the design of the gun is 

service of ammunition that it would be retained on their 
account alone. 

2 The Duponts of Wilmington have produced a simi- 
lar article which gives distinctly better results than 
its German forerunner. 



